Multiverse Crossover
by Jericho Lament
Summary: A crossover story featuring the OCs created by myself and Mandalore Jaig in a number of previous stories that you can find on his account.


Kinji Kotetsu was walking through the dimly lit tunnel known as the Dangai, the passage between worlds, and looking forward to his little vacation in the World of the Living. As a soul reaper, a spiritual being who lived in a dimension called the Soul Society, he'd needed a physical body in order to interact with mortals. His family was wealthy enough to own several false bodies known as Gigais, one of which he was already using. His family, wife and children included had conspired to give him a vacation from the management aspects of his daily routine as well as the demands of family life. It was only for three days but Kinji appreciated the breathing room all the same. Whether it was breathing room for him or his family was debatable. And even better was the relief that using a Gigai brought. He'd been badly wounded during one of many small wars that had taken place over the past 50 years and had a permanent limp in his right leg. But with the fake body his wound might as well have not existed at all

He was jerked from his fantasies of deep dish pizza and craft beer by a sudden shaking in the ground beneath his feet. Well, it wasn't ground in the strict sense but the tunnel between dimensions should have been completely stable. The ground started rolling under his feet and tossed him into one of the semi-solid walls. He tried to steady himself but the shaking only got worse. He was too disciplined to panic but his quick mind ran through his options and found none that would save him from a tunnel between dimensions suddenly collapsing on him. Even though he knew it wouldn't work he tried to use his own power to stabilize the Dangai. If anything the addition of his energy just accelerated the collapse. The tunnel shattered and tossed Kinji into the dark emptiness between worlds. His heart nearly stopped from terror, few fates being worse than exile into nothingness for the rest of his life. He was almost relieved when something tugged at him in the void and he was pulled toward a rift, toward some world or another.

He fell out of the black rift into open air. The sudden sensation of air passing him by as he fell gave him a moment of relief followed by a moment of panic. He was glad to be in a world with air and light, even if it was only just enough to see by, but he wasn't used to exerting his power from inside a Gigai. He did manage to stop his descent as scant 20 feet from the ground but he dropped the rest of the way a moment later when his power stuttered. His physical body was far more durable than that of normal humans but hitting the pavement from 20 feet up still hurt a little. "Ow." He levered himself up and was blindsided by a truck. That impact tossed him into the air and into the side of a building. "Owwww." Nothing was broken so far as he could tell. He looked around and saw mostly deserted streets illuminated by electric lamps. What did the humans call them? Street lights. He dusted himself off and took stock of his situation. He'd made it to the human world, apparently. No other world he knew of used motorized vehicles. But the architecture looked wrong. Whenever soul reapers like himself came to the world of the living they remained in the bounds of a nation known as Japan. From the files he'd memorized he guessed that he was in a country called America.

"I'm going to murder the Department of Research and Development for this. I bet they did it on purpose." He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. He was wearing a metal bracelet that should allow him to open a path back to the Soul Society. Except, it didn't seem to be working. "Kurotsuchi." He grumbled, mentally blaming his problems on the leader of the aforementioned Department.

He went right to plan C, try to find the locally stationed soul reaper and get them to open a way back. He released a strong pulse of spiritual energy and waited for it to touch another being with power. The responses he got made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. There were powerful beings in the city but not like anything he'd ever felt. Definitely not soul reapers. Not even the evil creatures called hollows that soul reapers killed in order to protect humans. These were something new. The pulse continued outward for miles, occasionally giving him a signal from another powered being. The response he got next nearly knocked him off his feet. He looked up and saw a gaping hole in reality in the sky. Even against the nearly starless night he could see the deep darkness of the in-between. The lifeless space between actual worlds. And he could see the turbulent current of energy inside the hole. No wonder he couldn't open a path for himself. Something powerful was creating a kind of suction and pulling things into this world. Nothing was leaving this world until that vortex was gone.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Kurotsuchi was here." He muttered. With a first rate mad genius at hand he could probably find a way to get back despite the vortex. But since that wasn't going to happen his options were very limited. Either he tried to dismantle the vortex manually or he found the source of it and stopped it that way. From the impression he'd gotten from the pulse he didn't really want to take the second option. He was a monster in his own right but these new things were unknown quantities and the last time he'd dealt with unknowns his world had nearly been destroyed. So the less of that he did the better. But the idea of him disrupting something with that much energy was chilling. It was a twisting of dimensions on a scale that would conceivably destroy worlds.

"Mondays. Go figure."

* * *

Shift stepped out of a shadow onto the wrong rooftop. He didn't notice because he was too frustrated and angry to care about something as trivial as his location. He shouted a bunch of half and nonsense words, trying to articulate his rage. He punched the steel security door that lead into the building hard enough to break the skin on his knuckles and leave a bloody dent in the door. "Son of a- impossible- high strung-!" In the end he just screamed into the night, somewhere between and animal roar and a human yell. When he finally wound down he licked the blood off his knuckles and tried not to think about a specific pale skinned young woman. He knew trying to have a relationship with an empath would be a rocky endeavor but he hadn't appreciated just how much pain he could be in for when things went downhill. He needed time, time and enough space to figure out where to go from here. He looked out at the skyline of Gotham, hoping the familiar lights might bring him some modicum of peace. And if that didn't work he'd go find himself a priest and get a confession/therapy session. His eyes instinctively looked for the familiar landmarks. Wayne Tower, the main GCPD building, the multitude of smaller skyscrapers. Except they weren't there. There were skyscrapers but they were in all the wrong places. And there was a single tower standing higher than the rest but it had a big A on it rather than a W. "I'm in a city with landmarks I don't recognize when my shadow walking can't take me where I've never been." Seconds ticked by as his stressed brain put the pieces together. A strange and fragile sense of calm came over him while he was figuring out what had happened. And it shattered the instant he finished. "I've been hijacked. SON OF A-!"

* * *

The third arrival to New York City took the news of his arrival a bit better than the first two. "This… isn't right. I'm pretty sure Underhill doesn't look like New York City. And that certainly doesn't belong in the New York City I know." He said, looking at the tower with the big A on it. "Oh well, every wrong road is a new adventure et cetera. I wonder if I can get a good scotch somewhere around here." He straightened his suit coat, made sure his pistol was tucked away, and hoped the first bar he found would take his money.

* * *

"Where am I?" Jackson Owens demanded of the two large and vaguely human shaped creatures in front of him. The last thing he remembered was taking on a bunch of super-powered aliens in Washington DC. Now he was standing in a cage made of energy without his clothes and unable to manifest anything.

"You misunderstand the situation." A deep and cultured voice came from a creature that appeared to have skin made of stone and deep red eyes. "You are here to answer our questions. Disobey me and you will suffer." Jackson gave him a disbelieving look.

"That prison is more than capable of containing you and keeping you from using those strange abilities of yours. It can also motivate you." The second being had purple skin and black eyes, he was wearing some kind of futuristic golden armor. There was a purple stone shining on his right hand. He pressed a button on his gauntleted arm and an amazing amount of agony wracked Jackson's body.

"I call it the agony matrix. Direct stimulation of your body's pain receptors on a level that would kill an ordinary human. But a being with your gifts will simply remain in a state of perpetual torment." Darkseid nodded to Thanos who turned the pain machine off. Jackson dropped to the cage floor, panting.

"OK, I'll play ball. Hell, I'll help you do whatever horrific thing you want. Just don't press that button again."

"Then demonstrate your loyalty by answering my question." Darkseid pressed a button on the console behind him, a simple recording device. A series of voices spoke, maybe one or two words per voice. "Anti-life equals loneliness plus alienation plus fear plus despair plus self-worth." The recording stopped. "I want the rest of the answer."

"Oh no you don't." Jackson said immediately. Thanos pressed the button and let Jackson squirm for another minute. "Horseradish, why do I taste horseradish?"

"You know something of the Anti-Life Equation. You will tell me what you know." Darkseid stated.

"Right, fine. Like I said, you don't want it. That formula would bring down heat like you wouldn't believe."

"How do you know this?"

"Because I have a piece of it. I understand what it is. It's what sets off the endgame. You have pieces too, can't you feel it? The finality, the power."

"The power to remake reality. It is the endgame. We will use it to remake our universes in our image and to our liking."

"Using technology from his planet and using this Infinity Stone we created a portal that will assemble the pieces of the Equation here. You were merely the first to arrive." Thanos said.

"My parademons will bring the rest here in good time." Darkseid commented.

"Fine, you want my piece? Let me tag it onto the part you already have. **Anti-life equals loneliness plus alienation plus fear plus despair plus self-worth divided by mockery**." The horrible power of those words and the meaning behind them seemed to distort Jackson's voice and body until neither seemed human. And for just a fraction of a moment Apocalypse shrank back from him. Darkseid, on the other hand, became more eager to complete the abominable equation. For it to grant a human such power with just a fraction of its whole form, how much greater would it make something like him?

"Excellent."

* * *

"Gentlemen, you may be wondering why you are here. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you." Mordecai Wraith said glumly but professionally. Sean Wraith, no relation, had come through the portal wearing his full armor, as had another man who would only give the name Jaig in response to any inquiry about his identity. The fourth man in the room also wore armor but his was of a more classic design with intersecting plates and an unformed chest piece. The other three were wearing armor of similar design that suggested space-age technology. The fourth man had identified himself as Kal, wandering adventurer.

"Thanks for a whole lot of nothing." Kal said. He'd been right in the middle of a very important quest to kill an evil dragon sorcerer. He and his two companions had walked through a portal to get into their enemy's kingdom but he had ended up in some giant city made of stone and glass. He was a little cranky.

"Respect your elders, boy." Jaig said harshly.

"Hey, I'm older than he is." Sean said, feeling the need to diffuse an argument between the taciturn Jaig and the childish Kal.

"Nobody's ever proven that." Wraith said, picking up on the joke and trying to further diffuse tensions. "We all arrived here after making use of some form of interdimensional travel, correct?" armored heads nodded. "But instead of reaching our intended destinations we all arrived in this city, and in this building specifically." Wraith waved his hand around to indicate the little church basement. "Are any of you familiar with this particular world?" Sean nodded but both Jaig and Kal shook their heads. "Well, this seems to be a world similar to a universe called Marvel 616 but from cursory examination I can already see some differences. And, for reasons we have yet to discover, none of us are able to leave."

"I really need to get back. If I leave Zek and Mirror alone for too long who knows what might happen?!" Kal said. The other three looked at him and chose to ignore that comment.

"This world seems somewhat primitive." Jaig commented. "I find it hard to believe that the technology here could reroute someone in the middle of a dimensional transference."

"You are correct, of course. But there are aliens in this universe that could undoubtedly do something like that. And the cause of this… disturbance may not even be from this universe. Off the top of my head I can think of a dozen beings that could do something like this, but I can't determine a motive with only the data I have. Are any of you carrying anything of value? It could be an object, or a piece of information…?" They all considered that question carefully, even Kal, but after a minute they all shook their heads in the negative.

"Well we can't all just sit on our hands in this little room. It isn't as though someone is going to walk through that door and tell us why we were brought here." Jaig said. The door in question was blown off its hinges to allow a man in a dark cloak to walk in, along with large winged creatures covered in armor and carrying spears.

"My master, the great Lord Darkseid, wishes for you to meet with him. Immediately." Desaad gave them a malicious smile that left no doubt as to what would happen if they said no.

"You were saying?" Kal said mockingly.

* * *

"Lagavulin 16 neat." Blake Walker ordered. The bartender took the bottle off the top shelf and poured a glass of the dark brown liquor. The Private Investigator sniffed it and took a sip. "Well at least that's the same." He slid a $20 bill to the bartender who took it without comment.

"I'll have one of the same." A silver haired man with vaguely Japanese features said. Kinji sat down a couple stools away from Blake, opening his wallet and placing half a dozen colorful bills on the bar top.

"What is this, Japanese Yen? We only take American dollars." Blake glanced at the bills, his eyebrows going up at the amount. It was roughly equivalent to $200 in US currency.

"I'll spot him." Blake slid another $20 over the counter. Kinji was provided with his drink, he thanked Blake, and took a sip.

"Give me a bottle of Jack." A kid, not looking older than 20, demanded when he walked up to the bar. Since it was late on a Monday night the bar was basically deserted. He slammed a hundred dollar bill down on the bar hard enough to send ripples into the drinks of people all the way at the other end of the bar.

"We don't sell bottles."

"Then give me as many shots of Jack as this buys." Shift demanded. "I've had a very stressful day." He pulled up a stool between Blake and Kinji and let his head his the wood with a thump.

"I know that look. Woman problems, right?" Kinji said.

"Butt out. I came here to drink, not talk to middle aged freaks who dye their hair." Shift said.

"Trust me kid, trying to kill yourself with alcohol won't help anything. Believe me, I'd know." The shots arrived and Shift made a show of downing them one after another. Ten shots in he stopped.

"Either drink or shut up." Shift said, tipping back another shot and setting the glass back on the bar with a loud clack.

"I would, but my money doesn't seem to be good here. Technically I'm not even supposed to be here."

"Yeah, me either." Shift put in, downing another ounce of liquor for emphasis.

"That's an interesting coincidence. Neither was I." Blake said, palming a silver knife that he'd quietly pulled from a wrist guard. He'd noticed the bestial nature of his new drinking buddy and he didn't want to take chances.

"Small and crappy world, isn't it?" Shift said, his words slurring a bit after his 12th shot.

"Not my world." Kinji said, taking a risk in the conversation by revealing that tidbit. Shift stopped drinking. Blake adjusted his jacket to make it easier to draw his gun.

"Mine either." Shift said.

"Either of you ever been here before?" Blake asked.

"Yup, once. It didn't go well. Tried to get a date, ended up invading some hell-like dimension and losing an eye." The bartender started looking nervous. What kind of crazy freaks talked like that? The conversation went on for several hours. The three men tried to get a sense of their new drinking partners. The paranoid werewolf, jaded private investigator, and politically savvy nobleman were understandably cautious of making hasty alliances. But as they drank and talked and drank they gradually relaxed and spilled the beans on who they actually were. Well, some of who they actually were. But eventually it swung back around to their love lives.

"I am married you know. It couldn't hurt to take my advice." Kinji said as Shift put away his 15th shot.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Hey, at least you have something to talk about. I haven't had a date in two years." Blake complained.

"Why don't you give him advice?" Shift said, gesticulating more than was strictly necessary.

"Because we should be talking about how we got here." Blake said, redirecting the conversation to a more useful area.

"Oh, right. So how-." The doors of the bar were kicked in with enough force to sink fragments of wood into the walls.

"Hello my dears. How nice to make your acquaintance. My name is Granny Goodness and these are the Furies." The old woman, solidly and muscularly built, gestured to the four savagely dressed women behind her.

"And who are the armored lizard people standing outside?" Blake asked. Both Shift and Kinji looked at him in surprise. Neither of them could see anything like that through the broken doorway.

"Those are parademons. All of us are here to escort you to a polite meeting with our master. The great and powerful Darkseid." Shift said a chain of words that was inappropriate for anyone who had never served in the Navy.

"I take it you know this Darkseid." Kinji said.

"You could say that." Shift said. The bartender had fled for cover so Shift hopped the bar, left a pair of hundred dollar bills on the counter, and grabbed a bottle of single barrel Jack. "You know how Muslims never say the name Mohammed without adding 'peace be upon him'? I have a similar policy when it comes to Darkseid, may he be dragged over a pile of rusty nails."

"Careful child, you don't want to make us angry." Granny warned, slapping the head of a mace-like weapon in the palm of her hand.

"Who is this guy?" Blake demanded of Shift, who looked like he was about to drink very expensive whisky straight from the bottle.

"Darkseid, may rats devour his eyes, is one of the New Gods. They're interdimensional beings who reside in the Fourth World but have avatars in other worlds. He's big, strong, fast, nigh indestructible, and uses a power called the Omega Effect."

"Blaspheme again and my Furies will bring you to our lord without your limbs."

"You have no idea how hypocritical it is for someone like you to say that." Shift said, taking a pull from the expensive bottle. Blasphemy accusations from worshipers of a god of evil seems somehow hypocritical.

"So… can I kill them?" Kinji asked. "Normally I'm pretty good at figuring out when it's time to slice necks but this whole situation is just too weird." He kept his voice low so the bad guys wouldn't hear him.

"Maybe we can negotiate?" Blake deadpanned.

"Ok, I'll deliver my proposition." Shift said, playing along. He whispered half a dozen words and pointed a finger at Granny Goodness. Dark light lanced from his fingertip and wrapped around the old woman. The spell bound her like a mummy in black bandages. Immediately three of the Furies charged the young men, one of them looking feral with face paint and metal claws, another over seven feet tall and bulky with muscle, and the third wielding a whip with a wickedly pointed spike on the end. The fourth, a woman with silver hair and a pair of swords, tried to cut Granny free of the spell. Armored lizard creatures with wings flooded into the bar by the dozen to overwhelm the three unwilling travelers.

* * *

"Now, time for you to answer some questions." Wraith said politely. Desaad was tied securely to a simple metal chair while the other three armored men cleared away the bodies of the deceased parademons. The four armored men had each gained a certain amount of respect for each other during the brief but intense battle.

"Do your worst. Compared to what I've seen and done it will be child's play."

"What a coincidence. That is precisely what is going to happen. Sean?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you make a run to some nearby stores for me? Here's a list." Wraith handed over a list with a substantial roll of hundred dollar bills. Sean got a sour look on his face at the idea of running errands but smiled when he opened up the list.

"Oh yeah, I can get this. Be back in an hour." Sean headed out into the night, stepping over bodies and wiping his bloody boots on the doormat on the way out.

"Pathetic." Desaad said shaking his head.

"What's pathetic?" Jaig demanded, looking menacing holding a vibro-knife.

"This ruse. Making the victim wait while you obtain or construct some fiendish instrument of torture. Amateur tactic."

"Look, if we wanted to torture you I'd run back to where I'm from and get a very angry dragonspawn to hit you for the next few hours." Kal said. Everyone looked at him for a moment, confused then went about their business as if he hadn't said anything.

"We'll just wait for Sean to get back. It'll give us time to get rid of these dead bodies. Then we'll start with the questioning." Wraith said. Jaig pointed a device at the bodies and pressed a button. The pile of corpses slowly vanished. Disintegration technology wasn't common in the Republic but he did keep it around for situations like this. "But just in case I'm going to make a call." Wraith pulled out a small mirror from his pocket and breathed on it. He didn't like magic or magical items but Shift had given him the mirror in case he needed to communicate across dimensions. When the fog from his breath cleared the mirror was filled with a new image.

"Hey former boss-man. What's up?" Shift's voice seemed a bit distorted. Wraith attributed it to the fact that he was speaking across dimensions.

"Adam, It's been too long." Wraith said dryly. "How are things?"

"Oh, fine. Just got myself trapped in some version of New York City. Darkseid is apparently looking for me now. Any idea how he even knows who I am?" There was a note of accusation in his voice.

"Darkseid. Isn't that an interesting coincidence?"

"You know something." Shift accused. "What's going on?" His speech was definitely slurred.

"You'd have put it together already if you weren't drunk. Darkseid pulled us both here and he wants something from us."

"Oh, believe me, I'm very aware of that." The image in the mirror panned around a destroyed bar littered with dead parademons. "Granny Goodness and the Furies were here but they opened a boom tube and ran." Wraith raised his eyebrows at that. Shift was good but he wasn't that good. In fact, Wraith had a hard time thinking of anyone who could run off the Furies and Granny Goodness on their own. Even Superman would have a hard time with that. And adding in a force of parademons you would have to have godlike power.

"Let me guess, you have several allies there with you. People from other worlds, by any chance?"

"You know I hate the whole 'I know something that you're too dumb to figure out' schtick. Please, for the love of all things uncomplicated, just tell me how deep in I am."

"Very. Can you come here?"

"Ugh, hold on." Shift disappeared from the mirror. Wraith heard a number of voices shouting at each other unintelligibly. When Shift came back into view a moment later his lycanthropic attributes were more pronounced. "Yeah, we'll come to you. Unfortunately I can't open a dimensional door to your location because of the giant whirlpool of dimensional energy overhead. So we're gonna walk it." There was some off screen conversation that Wraith couldn't understand and Shift's face darkened. "I don't care if you can hotwire a car! We're walking. And get some clean clothes! Even in New York you can't walk around covered in blood." Wraith put a hand to his temple and tried to massage away the beginnings of a headache.

* * *

The carnage was substantial. Shift had done all of his fighting long distance and avoided being splattered with blood. Kinji and Blake had fought up close, the former being far more effective than the latter. The Japanese man had pulled a katana out of nowhere and proceeded to cut down parademons at a pace that Shift had struggled to follow. Blake seemed to be an entirely normal human, albeit one that was good with his gun and knife. He'd killed maybe six parademons total as opposed to Kinji's dozens and his twenty. He'd also been of very limited help with the Furies since a bullet to their heads was little better than a punch. But he'd ended up without so much as a tear in his suit.

"I really liked this suit. It was comfortable." Blake said. Since the coat and shirt was covered in blood there was no saving it. Kinji was also covered in blood but the red fluid was rapidly drying and flaking off of his skin. Shift could feel waves of heat rolling off the man and he thought he saw flickers of blue flame coming off of him. The blood even began to flake off of his clothes after a few moments. Blake, with no self-cleaning powers, was forced to leave the jacket and shirt behind, grabbing a replacement from the back room where employees kept their uniforms. It fit poorly but it kept him covered so he didn't complain. "I'm going to kill Darkseid when I find him." Blake grumbled. Shift barked out a laugh.

"How? You could barely kill parademons. Darkseid can level buildings with a glance." Blake didn't answer. "That's what I thought."

"How are we going to find this former employer of yours?" Kinji asked. Shift held up the mirror in answer.

"I can already find the location, getting their without getting killed is the real problem." Shift groaned when he heard police sirens getting closer. "We need to leave now."

"Alright." Kinji tossed the katana into the air and it vanished. "Lead on." They walked out into the night, heading toward the church on the outskirts of the city.

* * *

"Who was that guy? He kinda seemed like a jerk." Kal commented when the communication between mirrors ended. Wraith actually considered that for a moment before answering.

"He can actually be a fairly decent person when he's not under pressure. Unfortunately he is usually under some kind of pressure." They both watched as Shift drank from a bottle of wine like it was grape juice. "The alcohol is new."

"I can feel you judging me from all the way over here." The werewolf said loudly.

"Not judgement, just concern." Wraith said.

"I'll take it under advisement." Shift said testily before going back to his bottle of wine.

"He's just working through some relationship issues." The silver-haired man who identified himself as Kinji said quietly. The older man's eyebrows crept up. He hadn't known Shift had started a relationship with someone. He hadn't been sure that the damaged young man was capable of it. But, looking at the werewolf guzzling down alcohol, his initial impression might have been right. He made a mental note to take some time and have a conversation with his former employee.

"I see." Wraith said thoughtfully.

"I don't buy it. I mean, look at that guy." Kal pointed. To his credit, Shift had a trickle of red wine running down his chin and neck that was spreading a stain on his shirt. He also had a stubble beard coming in and his hair looked unkempt. "How does someone like that get a date?"

"Why are we not discussing the evil god and his army of monsters who brought us here?" Jaig demanded.

"Darkseid, may syphilis rot his brain, is only ever after one thing." Shift said from the kitchen, his supernaturally good hearing let him keep track of everyone's conversation. Wraith nodded.

"I'm not sure how but he must believe that bringing us here will allow him to obtain the Anti-Life Equation. I don't suppose any of you know what that is?" Shift raised his hand. Everyone else simply waited for the explanation. "It is a metaphysical weapon with many potential applications, none of which could be considered good." Wraith said.

"What's the worst case scenario?" Blake asked from the corner of the room.

"Darkseid remakes the universe to his liking. Which, in case you were wondering, would look a lot like the Greek underworld with all living and sentient beings as his slaves and playthings. In other words, bad."

"So we find him and kill him. Simple." Blake said. After a moment of silence Shift's laughter rang out. It started small but built up to a full belly laugh that caused him to fall off the table he was sitting on.

"Logistically and morally, that simply isn't a viable option." Wraith said as Shift continued to laugh.

"Well at least one among you has some sense." Desaad commented as Shift toppled off the table he was sitting on, laughing all the while. "Lord Darkseid cannot be killed."

"Everyone dies." Blake said from the back of the room. The conviction in his voice hit Desaad like a slap to the face. The torture master of Apokalips looked at the rather unassuming human standing apart from the group. He'd barely noticed him among the more interesting looking humans. But when he met Blake's eyes he saw bone deep conviction. Or madness. Desaad couldn't really tell the difference. He swallowed hard and looked away from those unblinking eyes.

"You're all going to die horribly. I promise to cut your torture short if you release me now." Sean returned, walking through the door with several boxes and bags in hand.

"Sean, just in time. Desaad just threatened to torture us all to death. I trust you brought what I asked for?" Wraith said, playing the moment up a bit for Desaad's benefit.

"I did. You are a devious man." Sean commented before handing over the interrogation materials.

"Adam, would you like to participate?" Wraith asked the young man who had found a bottle of cooking sherry in the cabinets. Shift didn't stop guzzling the booze long enough to answer but merely waved his former boss off, indicating that he wished to be left to his unlikely quest for physical intoxication. "Alright. I suppose I'll have to do this myself." He opened one box, cardboard but with holes cut into the top, and reached inside. Everyone looked on curiously, wondering what the crafty old man was going to threaten a torture master with. He pulled out an utterly adorable kitten with black and gray striped fur.

"What is that abomination?" the fear in Desaad's voice was palpable.

"This is cuteness made flesh." Wraith scratched the little furball behind the ears, drawing a contented purr from the young animal. He brought the kitten closer to the bound man who tried to sink back into his chair to put as much distance between him and the kitten as possible. Shift glanced over and started choking on the sherry, laughing and coughing in equal amounts. Jaig was shaking his head in confusion. Kal wasn't paying attention. Kinji watched with a tilted head, not understanding Desaad's reaction. Wraith set the animal in Desaad's lap and reached into one of the bags. He pulled out a set of very childish stick on tattoos, many of them depicting cartoon ponies and rainbows. "You can stop this at any time. All you have to do is tell us what Darkseid intends to do and who he's working with."

"Never." Desaad growled, cold sweat shining on his brow.

"Suit yourself." Wraith started applying the disgustingly cute tattoos to Desaad's skin. When he ran out he went to the second box. He opened it slowly, making sure Desaad's eyes were fixed on him. The puppy he lifted out of the box looked like some kind of basset hound, all floppy ears and folds of loose skin.

"You devil!" Desaad cursed. Wraith shrugged and approached him with the puppy. The man's pale skin turned a light shade of green as Wraith got closer. He placed the puppy next to the kitten who had climbed down from his perch on Desaad's legs and was batting at a loose thread on the end of his robe. When it saw the puppy it walked over and the two small animals started sniffing each other. The kitten jumped onto the puppy's back and started kicking the top of its head. It was the most adorable sight Desaad had ever witnessed and it drove him to the brink of madness. "Alright! I'll tell you what I know. Just get these disgusting creatures away from me!"

* * *

"I am afraid what he says is most likely true. I am unable to contact any of my associates. My armor is not making any connection with my satellites. This is not Earth 616, despite the Avengers logo. I detect no superheroes of any sort, and my computer has been searching through all forms of electronic communication for any mention of them."

"And?" asked Sean.

"Not only is there no mention, there seems to be scarce communication to be found. It looks like he spoke the truth. We are in a pocket dimension of Darkseid's creation, although there must be another player. I see no reason for Darkseid to make a copy of a universe he is unfamiliar with." Wraith paused a moment. "Any thoughts on our next move?"

"Does anyone know what we're up against?" asked Kinji. He looked around the group.

Wraith pulled out an elongated cube, a little bigger than his fist. "Computer, project images of Darkseid."

"Complying." A 3D video of a grey skinned behemoth appeared.

"His name is Darkseid. He's a despot of the worst kind. He enjoys people's suffering and especially their despair. He's super strong, invulnerable, fast, has low level telekinesis, telepathy, matter manipulation, erosion blasts, size alteration, teleportation, chronokinesis, and has a genius level intellect."

The video now showed Darkseid single handedly taking on the Justice League.

"Any weaknesses?" asked Jaig.

"Radion, a very rare substance, and perhaps his pride. He prefers to have underlings who he empowers do his fighting for him. We are fleas compared to him, or so he thinks."

Blake spoke up first. "Well we took his… portal thing… can't we just go to Darkseid's turf and end him?"

Wraith looked at him tiredly. "Yes, you shared variations on that before. Going to Apokolips is a very sure way of suffering a poor death. No, we need a plan."

"What are our resources?" asked Kinji.

Shift looked at Wraith immediately. "Not this time," said Wraith. "I have no connections here, no business… all I have is what I brought with me."

"You're the most paranoid and well resourced man I know."

Wraith almost looked embarrassed. "I have a few items with me, but I'd rather hear what everyone else has first. Please, I would like to know what your weapons and abilities are."

Jaig's helmet tilted slightly. "You seem to be taking charge of this little group."

"I am the most experienced one with our opponents." He looked around the circle of them. "Most of you aren't from this universe. I have led similar fights before, admittedly not with so great of stakes..." He turned to Jaig. "But if you think you can do better…"

Jaig raised his hand. "Hold. My intention was not to offend. I merely wish to point out that you are falling into the role of leader a bit prematurely. And you are not the only one with past experience in this area."

"Noted." Wraith let go of some of his heat. "Would you then care to go first? I suppose these are our introductions of sorts."

Jaig nodded, knowing a truce when he heard one. "I am Mandalore of my people. You would consider it a king. It is a position achieved through honor and respect. I bring here my skills at fighting both with lightsaber, blasters, and the Force. My armor is true beskargam, capable of deflecting even a lightsaber. I have fought on many worlds, against battalions of soldiers and in single combat with Sith masters."

"And I thought Kal was confusing," whispered Sean to Wraith.

Wraith ignored him for the moment. "Thank you, Jaig." He also knew talent when he heard it. Jaig showed a confidence and pride, that managed to lack arrogance. He was a warrior. "Would you please explain what kind of weapons lightsaber, blasters, and the force are? I assume that the lightsaber would be the energy, blade-like weapon you demonstrated during our fight with the forces from Apocalypse?"

"Yes. The blasters are also energy weapons, but ranged. The Force is… an energy field that I can manipulate. Largely it gives me telekinesis."

Wraith's interest increased. "How strong of a telekinetic are you?"

"Well, there's not exactly a maximum with the Force, but easily, I can move several tons."

"How small of things can you control?"

"If I can see it, I can move it. My ability to sense microscopic materials is rather limited. If it were alive… perhaps, but even then it would be difficult."

"Understood." Wraith turned to the next member. "Kinji, was it?" The man nodded. "Would you please explain yourself?"

The man gave a bemused smile. "My name is Kinji Kotetsu. I'm currently the chief officer of a merchant company, former military commander, and the current political leader of my clan. I am… rather proficient… in hand to hand combat, melee weapons, and kido, a form of energy projection. My zanpakuto, the sword I used earlier, can transform into various weapons, create optical illusions, and produce fire-based attacks. However, this form I have taken limits my abilities."

"How much?" asked Wraith.

The man shrugged. "Hopefully not enough to matter."

Wraith turned and saw Kal fairly twitching with the desire to go next. Wraith sighed. "Alright, Kal..."

"I," he said with great drama, "am a powerful warrior. My gift with strategy… unprecedented. I've been known to…"

"You can manipulate your armor as a fluid forming it into any shape you wish within the finite mass of the armor. Right?" Wraith didn't really care for dramatics.

"Well, yes, but I'm so much…."

"Is there anything else you can do?"

Kal looked with smoldering irritation at Wraith. "No."

"Thank you, Kal."

There was a faint noise. They all turned to the door. They looked at each other. Weapons were drawn.

"I'll give you one chance to surrender," called a cultured, but arrogant voice.

Kinji snorted.

"Let's see what we're up against," said Jaig quietly. There were nods of agreement.

They exited the church at a leisurely pace, keeping their eyes peeled for threats.

What stood in front of them appeared to be threat enough. "I am…"

"Steppenwolf," finished Wraith, "Darkseid's uncle and leader of his armies."

Steppenwolf raised an eyebrow. "I see my reputation precedes me."

"That and your stench. I believe the people of New Genesis would still be pleased to see your head on a platter for your crimes, even if Darkseid were to bring you back again."

This time the arrogant smile turned to a frown. "We shall see who is in need of resuscitation." He motioned to the troops in front of him. "A legion of parademons says that in an hour you'll be kneeling before Darkseid."

"I guess we impressed Darkseid last time," said Blake dryly.

"I think his appreciation for us will grow yet," said Sean brandishing his adamantium sword and striking a stance.

"Parademons! ATTACK!" roared Steppenwolf. The first rank charged forward. It was only fifty feet away from them. Some of the creatures had guns, but must just had claws and teeth. The second rank rose into the air via a sort of jet pack.

Wraith shielded them from the ranged weapons. Kal, Sean, and Shift focused on catching any Parademons that closed the distance off of Wraith. Kinji waded right into their ranks and began to cut a swathe towards Steppenwolf. Blake struggled to figure out a strategy with his newfound allies, but with all the Parademons swarming them there wasn't much time to think. He simply put his back towards his allies and shot everything that got close.

Kinji's attack stalled, although Wraith doubted it was because he was finding the odds too difficult. More likely he was either having fun or was trying to lure Steppenwolf out. In either case, Wraith wasn't liking their position. The circle of sorts that he and the others, minus Kinji, had made was now covered with a dome of Parademons. The only place they weren't surrounded was under their feet. Wraith finally had enough.

He levitated himself off the ground and approached the teeming mass of Parademons that surged around them. Without even a gesture he knocked an opening roughly thirty feet in diameter through them. The other allies followed him.

Steppenwolf directed another wave to engage his approaching foes. Wraith reached an arm and seized over three hundred of them, with a motion he hurled them into the forces below eliminating large swathes of the troops between them and Steppenwolf. The Parademons knew no fear and kept flooding toward the group. Wraith took a quick glance at each of the group before he made his next move. Shift was doing nothing, not a thing to help in the fight. His eyes were fixed on Blake Walker who was unharmed despite being physically outclassed and armed only with a knife and pistol. Kal had formed a pair of tonfas and was cracking heads at every opportunity. Jaig was literally cutting his way through the monsters with what he called a lightsaber, tossing a few here and there with bursts of telekinesis.

Wraith felt a sinking feeling in his stomach watching his ragtag group trying to fight. There was no coordination, no cooperation, and a good deal of mutual interference. And then there was Adam who was just standing there watching Blake like a hawk. "Adam, we could really use your help right now." He prompted. Adam shot him a dirty look but turned toward the bulk of the Parademons and began tracing symbols in the air. The effect was a wave a shadow that swallowed hundreds of soldiers on the ground and dragged them into darkness.

"Keep going everyone. Their ranks are thinning out." Wraith shouted. Everyone kept stacking up bodies as fast as they could with no one taking any serious injuries thanks to Wraith's telekinetic intervention. Jaig was only a hundred feet from reaching Steppenwulf when the remaining Parademons pulled back, thickening the ranks surrounding their General. Blake dropped back, letting the others do the fighting from there on out. Wraith looked down to see Blake hold his gun up for visual confirmation. The slide was locked back and he was completely out of ammunition. Wraith nodded and projected a shield around him.

"This is getting repetitive!" Kal shouted in irritation.

"Quit whining and complete the mission." Jaig chastised.

"I think it's already complete. We're just mopping up." Sean said. He could detect the energy of a barrier ahead of them through his helmet and he couldn't see Kinji anywhere. So, putting two and two together, he assumed Kinji had made it to Steppenwulf first. Shift was staying near Wraith and picking off Parademons from a distance. His attention was still fixed on Blake.

The combined efforts of the group had indeed made short work of the cannon fodder but Kinji had been the first to make it to the Huntsman. The New God was missing his right arm, his skin was badly bruised, blood dripped from his mouth and nose, and Kinji held him off the ground with one deceptively strong hand around his throat.

"This is just sad. I was told that you and your compatriots claimed to be gods."

"We are gods, mortal scum. I will live on long after your corpse turns to dust." Kinji looked pointedly at the severed stump of his arm. Parademons were attempting a rescue but none of their weapons could penetrate the translucent blue barrier Kinji had raised around himself and his enemy.

"Call me a skeptic, but I just don't see that happening." Kinji lined the point of his katana up with Steppenwolf's left eye but didn't drive it home and end the mass murderer's life. He had no qualms with taking the life of an enemy but it occurred to him that there might be a more profitable way to go with this opportunity. With a flick of his wrist the sword vanished in a haze of blue fire. "You seem to be bleeding a bit. Let me help you out." More fire coated his palm and he pressed it against Steppenwulf's bleeding stump. Kinji had to hand it to the monster, he didn't scream in the presence of what had to be excruciating pain. "There's someone who I think would like to have a conversation with you."His

* * *

"Unacceptable." The word sounded like a death sentence coming from Darkseid but the god of evil didn't vaporize Granny Goodness and the Female Furies on sight. They all waited with tense muscles and fast beating hearts, their minds conjuring up horrible punishments. "But I will give you all a chance to correct this mistake. Bring me the ones I need, alive and able to speak."

"Yes, Lord Darkseid." They said in unison. He turned his back, dismissing them from his presence. Once they were out of earshot the griping began.

"How are we supposed to capture these guys when we know nothing about them?"

"That's where you're wrong my dear Harriet. After our initial encounter we know quite a bit about them. And we won't be going alone." As they approached the building's exit they could see two figures through the tinted glass. General Steppenwulf AKA the Huntsman, commander of Darkseid's interstellar fleet. He stood tall and straight with a sword at his side and several daggers strapped to his chest. The other figure was his opposite in many ways. Kaliback, the adopted son of Darkseid, was huge and muscled but hunched over and carried a club made of a superdense alloy and capable of firing energy blasts powerful enough to harm Superman.

"Ladies, welcome to Hunting Group A." Steppenwulf said and bowed to them. "We are tasked with finding and capturing these three men." He held up pictures of Shift, Sean, and Kal. The parademons had each been equipped with a recording device, useful for gathering information in battle and the images were taken from those cameras.

"And the other three?" Granny asked.

"Our guests will be going after them. Their powers are more suited to the task of capturing the more… problematic targets."

* * *

"You're insane! If you want to go and get yourself killed be my guest. But leave me out of it." Shift shouted at Blake who had been vehemently arguing for his "kill Darkseid" plan again. Surprisingly, Jaig was his main supporter and both were being vocal about it.

"This is not a moral act we're talking about." Wraith said with disapproval in his voice.

"I disagree. This Darkseid isn't remotely close to a human. He's an unchanging spiritual being that has invaded this universe like some kind of infection. According to him Darkseid calls himself the god of evil." Blake argued, pointing at Shift.

"It's a moot point, you simply can't kill him!" Shift said for the fifth time.

"Why are you so confident that you can kill him? You don't appear to have any special powers." Sean said, asking a question as much as making a statement.

"Hit anything hard enough and it will break." Jaig said with an air of military practicality. "I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of one person."

"You've never met any gods, have you?" Kal said.

"I once met things that claimed to be gods. For all our sakes I hope Darkseid is nothing like them." Kinji said. He wasn't necessarily against the idea of killing Darkseid but he was beginning to think up his own plan for getting out of that universe. And a few other plans for how to have a little fun on his way back home. He was an experienced leader and he saw from the start that the group's dynamic was unworkable. Wraith was doing his level best to play peacemaker but the worldviews and personalities of the six men simply did not mesh. Could they be made to with enough time and proper motivation? Certainly. But neither of those things were present here. Steppenwulf's failed assault on their position made that clear. Wraith was watching the ongoing argument with dismay clear on his face. Kinji decided to lend the gray haired man a metaphorical hand.

"I'm going to sit this one out. We're clearly not going to all fall in line behind the same plan of action so I'll just go for a nice evening walk." The devilish smile on Kinji's face told Wratih he would be doing much more than simply walking around. "Don't worry, you'll have enough time to work out what you want to do, just don't complain if I settle things before you need to lift a finger." Kinji strode out the door with eager purpose in his steps.

"He's cocky." Shift commented as Kinji left the room. "That probably won't last long."

"Arrogant he might be, but there's something about him that makes me think he can handle himself." Jaig said, if only to be the contrarian. "With all of the strange abilities I've been told exist in this world isn't there a chance he can win?"

"Not really." Blake said, joining Shift in raiding the kitchen. "He's too damaged."

"And I thought you were judgmental." Shift quipped to Wraith.

"Just calling it like I'm seeing it." Blake said with a shrug, cracking open a soda. "Speaking of damaged people..." Blake looked over at Shift.

"Wow, worked that out for yourself did ya?" Shift said sarcastically.

"So what do you suggest we do, Mr. Walker?" Wraith asked, as much to stop the man's sniping as to actually get a useful answer. Blake pondered that question for a moment.

"Figure out where Darkseid is and kill him. That's the only reasonable and practical solution to this situation. I'm sorry if you find that somehow offensive but there is nothing morally wrong with killing your enemy when you have no other options. Or are you saying you have so much power that the limitations of us mere mortals simply don't apply to you?"

Wraith didn't have anything nice to say so he didn't say anything. He just shook his head and pulled Shift aside for a one on one chat.

"You know you're being a jerk, right?" Sean asked Blake.

"Maybe, but his misplaced altruism might get all of us killed and the universe enslaved. So forgive me if I'm lacking in subtlety. It's not like I don't have problems of my own waiting for me when I get back home." Blake said grumpily.

* * *

"I have a proposition for you all." Kinji said. "Renounce your master, pledge loyalty to me, and aid in my escape from this prison. If you do I can grant you all long lives lived in absurd luxury." The answers ranged from a simple shake of the head to some hand gestures he didn't understand all the way up to verbal threats of death by torture.

"We are all loyal subjects of Lord Darkseid. You are wasting your time." Gilotina said condescendingly.

"Ah. At this point I'd resort to some kind of moral manipulation but since you seem to have no morals I'll skip that and proceed directly to violence." With a flick of his hand and a flicker of blue fire a katana appeared in his hand. "Spark, Kitsunebi." More of the eerie blue fire coursed down the blade and spilled onto the street.

"You think we're afraid of fire? D'you have any idea how hot it is where we come from?" Mad Harriet laughed.

"Oh, this isn't meant to burn you." Kinji ran his hand over the flat of his sword and collected a handful of the foxfire. "I just wanted you to have some light to guide you in the dark." He hurled a fireball at the women where it burst and settled on them in little tongues of fire. True to his word the fire produced no heat.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Kinji smiled at the question. He lifted his sword and blew the flames out. As soon as he did everything around the Furies went utterly and completely black. They couldn't see anything other than what was marked by the blue fire.

"Is he trying to escape?" Granny wondered aloud. "Everyone, spread out and search the area. He won't get very far in the dark."

"But I'm right here." Came Kinji's voice from the darkness in front of them. "Way of Destruction 4: Byakurai." A thunderbolt shot through the air with a crack, boring a quarter sized hole through a parademon's skull and filling the air with the mixed scents of ozone and cooked meat. Immediately everyone with an energy weapon opened fire in the direction the lightening came from. "No, not there. Over here." Kinji stepped out of the darkness without a sound, his sword already swinging for Granny's head. Except, it wasn't Kinji. He'd used the hypnotic power of his zanpakuto to overlay his image on Mad Harriet. As a result, when the Furies tried to attack Kinji's image they instead attacked Harriet, dealing what would normally be lethal blows to the unsuspecting warrior. Kinji gave them no time to realize their mistake, using his illusion-making powers to turn everyone against each other, believing they were attacking him. The parademons slaughtered each other like blood-maddened sharks, killing each other off in under a minute. Granny Goodness realized what was happening and managed to back out of the slaughter. She felt the cold steel of a sword come to rest against the side of her neck. She heard a hushed "shhh" in her left ear and so remained both silent and still. She was forced to watch as her elite warriors cut each other to pieces as Kinji's deception played itself out. Kinji was only capable of manipulating the sense of sight but even that small ability could prove deadly in the right hands.

Soon there were only a few parademons left and the Furies had cut each other to ribbons but their superhuman durability kept them alive despite their considerable wounds. "I think that's enough sideline entertainment." Kinji said, shoving Granny back toward the Furies and releasing his hold on his illusion. "Now that we've weeded out the scrubs I suppose we can get down to business." Kinji said, a cold cruelty in his voice. That was all too familiar to the women who were raised on Apokolips. Gilotina, Stompa, Lashina, and Mad Harriet looked at Kinji with a burning hate in their eyes. Even Harriet who was completely insane experienced a moment of complete clarity. Murdering Kinji Kotetsu had just taken first priority in all of their minds. Kinji saw that and loved it. It had been a very long time since he'd felt the thrill of murderous intent aimed against him. It made him feel younger, made him forget for a moment that he was a cripple.

"You cheeky brat. You think you can toy with us? The honor guard of the great Darkseid?"

"I do, I did, and it was the most fun I've had in years." Kinji said with a grin. He lifted his sword in a mocking salute to the warrior women. "But the fun won't last too much longer. Just how long is going to depend on you." Granny had enough of his smug face and leveled her energy weapon at him. The blast of energy was enough to reduce a twenty ton stone statue to dust but Kinji swatted it away with his zanpakuto. Granny's mouth dropped open when the blast annihilated the building off to Kinji's left and her target remained unharmed. "Not a bad try, but I hope you can do a great deal better than that."

"Do you even understand what you're doing? Blasphemer! You're opposing the will of a god!" Lashina shouted at the impossible man. Kinji's smile faltered and was replaced by a somewhat apologetic expression.

"Those of us who reside in the Soul Society do not worship any gods. So I must offer my deepest apologies, the meaning of your words is quite beyond my understanding." The smile returned to his face. "But I will not stay my blade and surrender my life because this Darkseid claims some authority over me. So show me the depths of your conviction and let us see if it is stronger than my will to keep living!" Blue fire, this time blazing hot enough to crack the stones in the buildings around him. The fire in his eyes burned hotter than the fire around him and his enemies were immediately forced into a defensive mindset. Down swept the sword and the fire exploded out in a wave that swept away everything in front of him. Blue flame burned the land clean of everything down to the asphalt and anything that wasn't turned to ash was thrown back and buried under the debris.

From Kinji's point of view it was a sloppy but fun way to start the fight off and he was certain that none of the battered Furies would be able to shrug off a hit like that. That way he could catch them all while they were struggling to get out of the rubble or recover from his initial blow. Sure he probably could have used the initial strike to kill them all but he wasn't fighting to win, he was fighting to buy time and create a distraction. Nothing says "distracting" like a giant fireball rising into the night sky. And with all four of them reeling he could take his time and have a little fun.

The smoke gradually cleared and Kinji absorbed his sword back into his body. One on one he could take these so called "Furies" with his bare hands. The first to emerge from the debris was Stompa, the very tall and bulky woman wearing a skull and crossbones on her battle suit. Kinji didn't hurry, just walked calmly over to the disoriented but mostly unburned warrior. "Looks like you're the toughest in terms of physical durability, but I bet you can't even take a single punch."

"Guy, I'm gonna turn you into a smear on my boots." She lifted her right foot and stomped. The ground immediately started to quake. Kinji's feet slipped into the debris and made him stumble. Stompa jumped high into the air meaning to crush his head with her feet. And with his feet trapped Kinji couldn't move quickly enough to escape. But his smile didn't falter for a moment. It was a good tactic and for her to be able to use it on him after taking a solid hit was impressive. But it was naïve in its' assumption of his capabilities. No soul reaper worth his salt depended solely on mobility for defense. Besides, he'd long since adapted to fighting from an immobile position. Kinji raised his hand and without even calling the spell's name, conjured a barrier between them. The round disc of translucent orange energy he created spun at several thousand RPM. When Stompa touched it she was thrown aside by the spinning shield. Kinji used the time to free his legs and chased after Stompa who was still flying through the air. Using his high-speed movement technique, flash step, he appeared behind her in an instant.

"One punch." Kinji taunted. His fist didn't just break bone, it tore muscle and ligaments, it pulped organs. His blow struck Stompa in the lower back, breaking her spine. Were Stompa a human she would have been killed instantly, but as one of the New Gods she survived and was even able to remain conscious despite the pain. Unfortunately even her more evolved physiology wasn't able to compensate for such extreme damage. She was out of the fight. Mad Harriet had been the most deeply wounded before the explosion and was unlikely to rejoin the fight. But Lashina and Gilotina were still in decent shape and Granny had been carrying a personal force field generator. All three emerged at roughly the same time. "Awww, and I wanted to fight all four of you one on one. Well, I guess I'll just have to hope that someone else comes along to extend my fun."

Gilotina was the next one to pull herself clear from the rubble. She didn't bother with banter and immediately tried to cut his head off. Kinji brought out his katana again and had a good old-fashioned sword fight. It was somewhat fun but Kinji found his enjoyment somewhat dampened by the difference in their abilities. His children could probably put up a better fight than this and they hadn't even hit puberty yet. After a few exchanges Lashina managed to stumble to her feet and attempt to attack him. He ducked the whip and threw a fireball into her face. Granny Goodness answered with another blast from her energy weapon and scored a direct hit to Kinji's back. The explosion pushed both Gilotina and Lashina back. Other than slightly scorched clothes Kinji remained unharmed an unimpressed. "This just isn't fun anymore. I think I'll just wipe you all out now." Kinji said, power gathering in his hands and distorting the air around him with heatwaves.

"You arrogant mortal. Even if you destroy our bodies we will be reborn and come for revenge!" Gilotina shouted. That made Kinji rock back on his heels. Reincarnation? Would he really have to kill them over and over again every time they were born into new bodies? That was a lot more time than he wanted to commit to this little spat. Fine, he would break their bodies and their souls. But first he needed a question answered.

"And Darkseid shares this trait? Continual reincarnation?"

"Well of course. Not that anyone has ever been able to kill him before." Kinji had been afraid of that. If he had access to the Kido Corps they might have been able to devise some kind of seal to keep Darkseid bound for thousands of years until his spirit shriveled and his body turned to dust, but Kinji had no formal training in that area.

"I'd really enjoy meeting him. I don't suppose any of you have the power to arrange that?"

'But of course. All you have to do is surrender and we'll take you directly to him." Granny said cheerfully.

"Sorry but I'm not someone who surrenders. Ever. But maybe if I crush his minions the boss will feel obliged to step out onto the battlefield himself." He held out his hand and a ball of blue flame appeared. The three women were immediately on guard. The last time he'd done that they had been tricked into cutting each other to pieces. "You all seem durable enough. But can you survive a hole in the stomach?" Kinji asked. Because of the illusion inducing effect of the fire Kinji's tails were completely hidden from view. The metal-furred appendages that were the source of his power speared all three through the abdomen and opened a foot wide wound. The tails flicked all three onto a pile on top of the squirming Stompa. "I almost feel bad beating up such helpless opponents." He saw a few stones shift as Mad Harriet crawled from under the debris. He coiled a tail around her neck and hauled her to him. "Tell me where your master is right now. I think it's past time we had a chat." Kinji could still feel the strange power of his enemies present in the small linked space but because of the unfamiliar nature of their powers he couldn't tell where they were or even how strong they were relative to him. Even when Wraith was standing right in front of him he couldn't measure the man's power.

"I'll never talk." She choked out.

"Admirable." Kinji admitted. Loyalty was something he could respect, even from enemies as obviously depraved as these had been. He tightened his hold on her neck. "I guess I'll just have to find him myself." He heard what sounded like a peal of thunder behind him. Some kind of portal had opened up and he saw a large figure approaching.

"I would appreciate it if you put her down. Warriors of their caliber are hard to come by. Warriors of your caliber are one in billions." Darkseid complimented Kinji with his arms clasped behind his back. Kinji dropped the weakly struggling woman and took stock of the newcomer. He was physically imposing at over nine feet tall and his eyes burned with a crimson light that gave Kinji a sick feeling. His skin seemed to be made of some dark gray stone and his arms were like tree trunks.

"Can I assume that you're Darkseid? Because your sheep were less than forthcoming on that point."

"I am Darkseid, god of all evil and the future master of all creation. I would be very interested to know your name."

"Kinji Kotetsu of the Soul Society. Head of the Kotetsu Clan, former officer of the Gotei 13, retired Lord of Hueco Mundo, and the chief officer of the White Sands trading company."

"Soul Society, Hueco Mundo. I am unfamiliar with these worlds. Strange that a piece of the Anti-Life Equation should be hidden in such a distant plane of reality. I have an offer for you. A warrior of your power and skill is rare. Pledge your loyalty to me and I would give you a place at my right hand. You would be the lord of all you survey, answerable only to me. You would have luxury and glory beyond your wildest dreams. Pleasures that would make any mortal man weep." Kinji held up a hand to cut off his aspiring benefactor.

"As someone who's made that pitch before, let me save you some time and energy. I have everything I could ever want back in my world. There is nothing you can tempt me with and I can't imagine that you'd be able to sway me with a moral argument. But since we're here I'll make a counter offer. Allow me to leave and don't trouble me again. In return I won't pursue a way to destroy you forever."

"You would leave your fellow captives to their fate as my prisoners?" Darkseid asked with interest.

"Of course. They're not my friends or my family. I have no moral duty or emotional attachment to them." Kinji replied honestly. "And since you seem to be unaware of my world the consequences of what takes place here won't likely follow me home. So yes, I'm perfectly content to leave now and forget any of this ever happened.

"An intriguing offer but I'm afraid I cannot allow that. I require your piece of the Anti-Life Equation."

"That isn't going to happen. While I don't feel the need to stop you, this universe isn't my problem, helping someone who claims to be a god of evil is morally repugnant to me."

"Then we are at an impasse." Darkseid said. Kinji grasped one of his tails and it transformed into a very large battle axe coated in blue fire.

"No, we've just come to the interesting part of the negotiation." He smiled like a kid on Christmas but deep under his façade he was worried. Darkseid's particular power was grating at him. As a spiritual being he was far more sensitive to evils that were spiritual in nature and he knew in his bones that Darkseid was poison. He charged forward, intent on testing the New God's durability with the edge of his battle axe when Darkseid's eyes flared red. Twin beams of crimson energy zipped their way toward Kinji with ridiculous speed. Kinji managed to interpose the flat of his axe but the impact took him off his feet and bulldozed him through two buildings before the stream ended. "That was a good shot." Kinji commented as he pulled himself out of a pile of rubble. He reabsorbed his axe and decided to try a different approach. His tails slid back into his back allowing him better mobility. His flash step was very fast and he reappeared nearly stepping on Darkseid's toes. His fist slammed into the false god's stomach and pushed him backwards. Against a normal opponent his punch would be devastating. Against Darkseid is was mildly painful and only knocked him back about four feet. He took one look at Darkseid's impassive expression and he felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. "Did that even hurt you?" he asked sheepishly.

"Slightly." Darkseid immediately slugged him. His fist was so big it struck his face and upper chest at the same time. It was a hard punch but Kinji planted his feet and held his ground. Blood trickled from his mouth and nose but he tightened his fist and channeled power into it. "Ikkotsu!" his empowered fist struck Darkseid's hip and this time the impact was enough to send the evil god flying through several buildings. Kinji unclenched his fist and knew immediately that he'd broken bones in his hand.

That was his single most powerful Hakuda technique and it had pretty much backfired. It was supposed to put a hole the size of his head in whatever he punched. Instead he had broken bones and split knuckles. Kinji's strategy underwent a serious revision right then and there, the new strategy leaning much more heavily toward kido and zanjutsu. Darkseid was more or less unharmed and walked patiently back to where he'd been standing.

"I confess to being disappointed. I was hoping for more of a challenge." Darkseid mocked.

"Alright then let me provide you with a challenge." Kinji jumped backwards, high into the air. He touched down on the piled remains of a demolished skyscraper. He stopped suppressing his power and let the weight of it spill out into the world. The air around him became saturated with his energy and crushed the rubble of the buildings into much smaller pieces. Even Darkseid felt the tremendous amount of energy contained in Kinji's body. Nine fox tails, all with the same metallic fur, emerged from his lower back. These new limbs were burning with blue fire and their tips were all pointing at Darkseid. Then the tips of the tails curled inward toward the same point where a single flicker of white light began to form. "If you think I'm a weakling then just stand there and let me take my best shot!"

The god of evil smiled and spread his arms to invite the attack. Kinji's answering smile was downright predatory. Darkseid bought the act, now he just had to finish selling it. The energy was difficult to contain using only his tails but he knew he could manage it. The blue fire pooled into a single point that burned brighter than magnesium. The blast would burn away half of the enclosed space and possibly make the rest of it inhospitable due to the excess heat. But only if he was too slow to put the second part of his plan into action. He began to chant "The head, unable to retreat, falls to the depths of the sea. The unseen winds of plague flow silent over all borders." He wove two chants together so the effects would coincide. Conjuring two powerful spells while channeling most of his firepower into an offensive strike was really pushing his limits. Fifty years ago he certainly wouldn't have been able to do it, but he'd had a lot of practice since then and his control was far better than it had been. The flicker of white was now the size of a baseball and continued to grow larger. The stone around his feet began to liquefy but he stood firm. When the sphere was the size of a beach ball he fired.

Rather than simply shooting the sphere as a whole and letting it detonate in Darkseid's face he fired a line of white light from it, gradually letting power escape. The beam struck the evil god in the chest and propelled him backwards through all obstacles. It burned him and caused him pain but Darkseid was far from being mortally wounded. He planted his feet and stopped himself, the power still pushing against him but now is washed over and past him. If he'd turned around to look he would have seen the landscape behind him burning away to nothing. After ten long seconds the beam ended and the smoke began to clear.

Darkseid gained several valuable pieces of information when the smoke cleared. First, there was a rather large and solid-looking wall between him and his target. Two, his target wasn't just powerful he was also a schemer, someone who layers plans on top of one another so that there is always an angle left to play. Three, his target was most likely making a quick escape while this giant wall blocked him. Darkseid shrugged as if it didn't matter. He wasn't short on time. In fact, time was the thing most on his side in this cat and mouse situation. Kinji did manage to do some small but significant amount of harm to him with that last attack, there had been traces of something more than simple fire there but he wasn't entirely certain what it was. He would heal in a matter of hours and then the chase would begin all over again.

The lord of Apokolips examined the barrier at greater length and found that the actual wall extended far beyond the white stone wall that was immediately apparent. It had been constructed out of some foreign type of matter he'd never encountered and it was incredibly durable. Even his Omega Beams couldn't destroy more than a small portion of it all at once. This led him to believe that the initial attack was only meant to operate as a smokescreen while the wall was his target's true objective. How he had materialized such a large object was an interesting question. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to locate this "Soul Society" that his target claimed to be from. If nothing else he would likely be able to find more capable soldiers than he currently had. Speaking of which…

"All of you have disappointed me a second time." He said. Of the five New Gods only Mad Harriet was still conscious and she trembled at the words. Even insane she knew that Darkseid's displeasure meant unspeakable pain. The other four were out cold with severe injuries which would require nearly a day to be fully regenerated even with the advanced technology at their disposal. "There will be consequences for your failure." Darkseid opened a boom tube and all six of them disappeared. Kinji waited, silent and invisible, until Darkseid had left and the strange portal closed behind him. Kinji Kotetsu, a man who embodies the phrase "crazy like a fox" had made himself invisible and remained on the same side of the wall as Darkseid. He'd bet on Darkseid's rather logical presumption that he would have used the wall as an obstacle to run away in order to gain this small advantage.

But Kinji had burned more than half of his power to create the very flashy attack and the even more visually impressive barrier all so he could watch Darkseid without being attacked. And boy was it worth it. Now he knew that Darkseid had a working method of dimensional travel and it seemed to be thanks to those small boxes that he and his warriors carried. If he had known that before then he could have simply taken one, now he would have to wait for a new opportunity to steal the small piece of technology and take it to the more tech-savvy of his fellow prisoners.

But before that he needed to improve his combat capacity, shake the rust off his more violence oriented powers. The image of a white and blue mask flashed before his mind's eye for a moment, a thought he'd buried a long time ago. That ability would certainly make him capable of going toe to toe with Darkseid, if only for a short period of time.

* * *

"So, did you solve everything singlehanded?" Shift asked with a smile that was totally insincere.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kinji said testily. "I simply took a walk." Kinji insisted though his clothes were damaged and he was smeared with a substantial amount of ash. His injuries had healed on his walk back from the battlefield including the broken bones. He didn't have any regenerative abilities but his sister was an extremely skilled medic and she'd taught him to mend minor wounds and broken bones on his own. "But I think I saw something important while I was out. Our enemies are capable of opening interdimensional portals using small gray boxes. I'm going to take a few hours to meditate before I try getting one. I suggest you don't come near me until I open my eyes again or I might cut your head off." Shift let out a few laughs before he realized Kinji was being dead serious. Wriath shook his head and asked Kinji to sit in one of the other rooms in the basement so no one would disturb him.

"I don't like this." Jaig said. "When Jedi meditate there is no danger to anyone. Sith on the other hand are very dangerous when meditating. It makes me wonder."

"I can guarantee that man isn't a Sith. Other than that I really have no idea what he is." Wraith said, a slightly sour expression on his face.

"And here I thought you'd been everywhere and seen everything." Shift said in an offhand manner as he took another pull of a recently discovered bottle of brandy.

"Would you stop that!" Wraith shouted at him, finally losing patience with the antics of his former protégé. "Unless you find some rubbing alcohol you won't be able to make yourself drunk. So please stop stealing booze from a church!" Wraith telekinetically yanked the bottle away from Shift. Sean saw the uncharacteristic display of temper and frowned. Mordecai Wraith was the most level-headed and even-tempered person he knew. He made to stand up and go lend Wraith a hand but Blake motioned for him to sit down and stood up himself.

"Mr. Wraith. Can I have a word with you in private?" Blake asked politely. Wraith took a deep breath and reigned his temper back in.

"Of course." Wraith walked upstairs to where he was sure a parish office would be located. After half an hour of sitting quietly Sean got up and went to talk to Shift. He had a bone to pick with the werewolf who was emptying out the fridge in the church basement.

"You were trained by Wraith, right?" he asked the werewolf.

"Sort of."

"You certainly don't act like it. Wraith is doing his best to bring all of us together as a team but all you seem to think about is yourself." Shift would normally express his anger at such personal attacks but he was too focused on other things for Sean's words to have any real impact.

"I'll back his play when he actually gets around to coming up with a plan. Until then I don't get in his way. That's the way it's been for years now. I don't see any reason to switch out a winning plan." Shift let out a large yawn.

"Alright, that's it." Sean took a swing at Shift and struck him in the jaw. Sean's metal glove struck with enough force to dislocate Shift's jaw and knock him off the counter where he was sitting. "Get up!" Sean reached down to pick up Shift and was stunned by the strength in Shift's hands when the young man gripped his wrists. He'd assumed that Shift was physically fragile because he'd fought every battle since arriving in the pocket dimension from a distance using magic. In Sean's experience magicians were cowardly, physically weak, and incredibly selfish. Up to that point Shift hadn't done anything to prove him wrong. Shift shoved him back and got to his feet. With a sickening crunch he shoved his jaw back into place and rolled it around until it felt right. Then he hurled himself at the veteran warrior like a wild animal.

* * *

"What did you want to speak to me about?" Wraith asked.

"Honestly? I don't want to speak to you about anything. This is something I have to speak to you about or we are all going to get killed while we're infighting. I'm sorry if that sounds rude or insulting but it is the unvarnished truth. If you were someone else I might play the concerned businessman, or the attentive protégé. But you're an experienced and intelligent man so I'm going to come at this in a straightforward way. We don't have the power to win this fight without killing our enemy." Wraith took the conversational barbs with grace. He showed no sign of anger or displeasure, though they were both present. Blake was a young man but he was talking down to him as if he were his superior in some sense.

"May I ask how you know this?" Wraith asked politely. In answer Blake held out a hand.

"Take my hand and close your eyes. I'll show you." Wraith removed his glove and took Blake's hand. It was rougher than it looked, more calloused. And it was quite cold. Wraith felt a tingle behind his eyes that wasn't altogether unpleasant but he kept his eyes shut until Blake told him to open them. His grip tightened reflexively when he opened his eyes to see a much changed world, and to see what was sitting across the table from him. Blake's face was gaunt and pale and his eyes sunken deeply into his skull. Two pale wings of white bone spread out from his back and their ends were dyed red with blood that dripped slowly to the floor. But a warm glow emanated from his forehead where a familiar symbol burned and confirmed something about Blake that Wraith had only suspected to this point. Everything Wraith was seeing was metaphysical symbolism. Everything pointed to a kind of meaning. The gaunt face and hands made Blake look like someone ill to the point of death. The wings pointed to angel imagery, a sign that Blake was a messenger. The bone and blood that composed those wings told Wraith exactly what kind of message he was bearing. The shining cross was on his brow, a mark of claiming that was as clear and pure as the first sunrise over the world. This was a man who had sunk so deep into sin to the point where his very soul had withered but had managed to change course. He was doing everything he could to walk toward sanctity despite the fact of a dark weight on his shoulders.

Blake was sharing his Sight with Wraith to help him understand things that would be difficult to convey in words. But in exchange for letting Wraith look at him he got a good look at Wraith as well. He was marked like Blake, with a cross upon his brow. But that was where the similarities ended. Wraith looked healthy and vital but there were chains wrapped around him. In front of him was a chess board. Not the normal simple square board but a massive and incredibly complex board of an irregular shape and containing thousands of tiny pieces that seemed to move on their own. Blake let go after about 30 seconds, long enough for Wraith to get the gist of his power. "I used my Sight to look over this entire city and I found where Darkseid is probably residing. I Saw him. We're obliged to fight against principalities and powers, against wicked spirits in high places. Darkseid is exactly that."

"Killing Darkseid won't do anything. An old associate of mine killed him a few years ago and it didn't seem to take. Not only that but we're supposed to serve life. Darkseid being alive, while it may be difficult to imagine this, is a real good. If we can bring him to salvation-" Wraith started. Blake shook his head tiredly.

"You have an improper idea of what death means. Death is God's necessary gift to a world where sin has taken root. Death is the only thing in the universe that prevents evil from simply going on and on, from spreading until it takes an endless number of lives and souls. And as I'm sure you Saw, I have a certain authority in this particular area."

"Oh yes. I saw. And we have a definite difference of opinion on this issue."

"Everything happens for a reason. For some reason that I find inexplicable those of us who gathered here are the keys to releasing a tremendous evil upon the world. And we're all substantially opposed to letting this evil loose?"

"We can agree on that point. I'm not so sure about just how unwilling some of us are to give up our pieces of the equation."

"You're talking about the pagans, aren't you? Jaig is a consummate military man, he has a religious commitment to "The Good" as Plato liked to call it. Kinji may not have a full understanding of "The Good" but he has been touched by Good and Evil and can probably tell the difference. He won't side with Darkseid. He'll recognize the stink of evil and corruption coming off of that abomination. Kal? I don't know. He's just strange. Looking at his soul was like staring at a mirage." Blake's face betrayed a hint of emotion and Wraith seized on it immediately.

"You're thinking about killing him!"

"Yes." Blake said flatly. "Old habits die hard." Blake folded his hands in front of him. "I didn't have the greatest moral formation as a child. Or any, really. But, in this instance, I can see the right path out of this. You can't because you're used to holding all the cards and having every option open to you. Most of us humans have to cope with a far more limited range of options."

"You're human?" Wraith asked skeptically.

"And a fragile one at that. Unlike Sean or Shift, if I suffer a mortal injury I run a very high chance of dying."

"I don't agree with you at all. It's almost hard to believe you're a Christian."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. But death is necessary until the End of Days for the sake of those who would be harmed by the corrupt and arrogant beings who believe their evil can simple grow unchecked." The metal of the desk started to rust under Blake's hands.

"I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this. But I'll consider letting you off the leash if we run out of options. Until then don't make any moves that involve starting Revelations early."

"I can live with that." Blake said. "But if I'm put in a position where I have to defend myself I won't hesitate to use this." Wraith was confused for a moment until his eyes strayed down to Blake's hands. There rested a small scythe, the kind of blade that could be wielded with one hand. The handle was off-white bone and the blade was flecked with spots of rust and Wraith instinctively recoiled from it for a moment. It made him appreciate more fully what it meant to say "O Death where is thy sting?".

"I wouldn't begrudge you the right to defend yourself. Now, shall we stop the fight going on in the other room?" Wraith said after hearing dishes shatter and large objects being tossed around.

"Might as well. Since they both have rapid regeneration they could keep going for a very long time."

* * *

Shift and Sean sat in opposite corners of the room, sulking and throwing angry glances at each other. Wraith was maintaining a psychic cage around both of them which kept them from continuing the fight they had both been eager to pursue. Sean may have started it but Shift was just as eager to indulge in violence as his opponent. His lack of psychological coping mechanisms in regards to social difficulties and social stress demanded an outlet for his anxiety. His inability to get drunk left him with very few other outlets. Once he was presented with the opportunity for violence he gladly indulged himself.

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Wraith asked like a disapproving father.

"Nope." Shift replied brazenly. Wraith closed his eyes to stave off the headache he could feel coming on.

"I apologize for losing my temper with him." Sean said, being as gracious as possible given the circumstances.

"How did this fight start?" Wraith asked.

"My non-helpful behavior was bothering him. And I think I might have been rude to him."

"You think you might have been?" Wraith asked.

"I usually am and I don't really care enough to remember in his case." Shift said dismissively. His eyes were fixed on Blake, unblinking and intense. Blake ignored him entirely. He was walking to the kitchen to start cooking some dinner for himself and anyone else who wanted some. There were ample canned goods and some meat in the freezer and an extraordinary spice cabinet. He'd made due with less. When he was out of earshot Wraith leaned down and whispered to Shift.

"Why do you keep looking at him?" Wraith had noticed his unwarranted attention on Blake even in the midst of heated battle. The expression on his former protégé's face was halfway between anger and shame. It was the face of a man who had been caught thinking something he found distasteful.

"He scares me." Wraith's brow furrowed in an almost audible question. "You don't scare me. Darkseid doesn't scare me, not really. I'm understandably cautious of people more powerful than me and I can feel fear when they're threatening me. But he's done nothing to make me think of him as a threat. For all I know he's just some mook with a gun. But even being this close to him I feel cold right down to my bones. Every instinct I have is telling me to run away because I'm about to be killed." Wraith considered telling Shift who, or more accurately what, Blake was but he realized that Shift would not take the information well.

"He is dangerous. But he's on our side so you don't need to worry about him moving against us."

"Us? Look, it's not that I don't appreciate what you've done for me but there is no 'Us' here. I'll cooperate with whatever plan you decide to try but don't ever assume I'm one of your minions. WE tried that once and all it accomplished was making it harder for me to trust people."

"Are you still upset over the gauntlets?"

"Not just them, but yes." Wraith let out a long sigh and pulled a small object from his belt. It was no bigger than a pebble and perfectly smooth. It's rounded corners put it halfway between a cube and a sphere. With a deft twist Wraith expanded the tiny object into a much larger container and opened the top half as if it were the lid to any ordinary box. Inside were an upgraded version of the magic-amplifying gauntlets that Wraith had given Shift several years ago in order to stop a power-mad sorcerer bent on ripping apart the barriers between dimensions. They had worked well enough but Wraith hadn't told him about the security function he'd had built into it which would incapacitate the wearer at his discretion. That lack of faith had permanently put an end to any friendship between them and set Shift on a slightly darker course than he might have taken otherwise. The problem was that Wraith viewed such precautions as utterly necessary and Shift viewed it as a betrayal.

"These have the same built-in kill switch as the first pair I gave to you." Wraith took them out of the container and passed the sleek black gloves to the younger man. "Can you live with that?"

"Yeah. At least you told me upfront this time." Shift took them but didn't put them on. "I'll use them if I need them. Can you live with that?" Shift said, tossing Wraith's words back in his face with the arrogance and self-righteous tone only a young man could muster.

"Why do you always have to be so difficult?" Wraith muttered in exasperation before he walked off to draw up new battle plans now that he had a better idea of the pieces he had to play with. Shift, now free of his cage, decided to drop in on Kinji to see if he was actually meditating. He walked down the small hallway that separated the large eating area from the smaller offices.

He was only a few steps away from the door when he smelled something that most certainly wasn't an ally of his. He turned around and saw The Dwarf. He had never figured out exactly what manner of thing the little monstrosity was but he knew something of its nature. The little thing, dressed in a fine black suit, standing just a bit above three feet tall and bearing a hideous grin.

"Hello Adam. Its been a few years since I last saw you." The Dwarf said and his grin grew wider. "And this time there's no nanny around to interrupt us." He extracted a black envelope from inside his coat and offered it to Shift just as he had almost five years ago on the plains of a desolate wasteland. Last time Domino had been there to keep him from making a poor choice. Shift had thought back on that moment many times over the years, realizing just how close he had come to stepping over that edge and falling into darkness. If Domino hadn't been there he would have taken the black envelope and used the evil spells it contained. He vowed that if the Dwarf ever showed up again he would banish the creature and seal away the envelope. But now, much as before, the evil magic exerted an almost hypnotic hold over him. It was a temptation worse than anger, worse than lust or the love of power.

"I don't want it." Shift forced the words out though his hands trembled with the desire to take the envelope.

"Oh yes you do. And it will save you from those who have trapped you here. You will have power beyond their wildest dreams. Those you hate will suffer." The Dwarf's harsh voice took on a crooning tone like one trying to lure an animal with food. Shift's hand crept up slowly, inch by inch toward the black paper. Sweat dripped from his face and his jaw was clenched so tightly that his teeth creaked under the pressure. Just before he touched it his other hand shot up, claws sprouting and fur covering skin, and restrained the hand reaching for the envelope.

"No." he hissed out from behind his teeth which were quickly turning into fangs.

"Don't be a fool. This is everything you ever wanted, and anything you could possible want. It-" The Dwarf stopped speaking and the crushing weight of mental compulsion Shift was struggling under seemed to vanish. As the imposed tunnel vision faded Shift saw Blake Walker standing behind the Dwarf with an expression of cold wrath on his face.

"Didn't you hear him? He said no." The voice coming from Blake sounded only vaguely like the bland tone he had been using up to this point. It was like the crumbling edges of frostbitten stone on a cliff. "What are you doing here, you squirming maggot?" The Dwarf's smile remained but looked for all the world like a cheap mask. Blake reached over the Dwarf's shoulder and grasped the black letter, crumpling it in his hand. The envelope, and the page of the Darkhold inside, crumbled away into dust. Now the Dwarf finally stopped smiling. What Blake had just done should have been impossible. In the history of the world no one had ever managed to destroy a piece of the Darkhold, the first and most powerful book of black magic. And yet he had done it.

"You can't do this." The Dwarf said in disbelief and he turned on Blake in outrage. The taller man grabbed him by the throat and lifted him to eye level.

"In your pride you took on flesh and walked among men. Did you forget what that means?"

"My master will send another after me, Horseman. You will not stop his return." The Dwarf said, that awful smile returning for a bare moment

"Maybe, but..." Blake's grip tightened and the Dwarf's expression shifted into something between panic and terror. "You won't be around to see it."

"Wait! You can't do this to me! I'm immort-" The Dwarf screamed, his voice breaking into a falsetto. Shift felt a sudden chill in the air and he saw the Dwarf crumble into dust, just like the envelope had. A skull fell into the pile of dust and bone fragments as Blake opened his hand and let the remains of the Dwarf fall.

Shift had been present when people died many times, he'd even made a couple of corpses in his day. But something about the way Blake had killed the Dwarf made ice settle into his chest while his stomach heaved and roiled. It had been so callous and so cold. It wasn't rage or anger or hatred that had been in Blake's eyes when the Dwarf met his end. It was contempt without remorse. And there was something more, something Shift had only realized after the fact. Shift had never been able to see magic in the way most magicians could but he'd always been able to feel it like a warm breeze on his skin. After Blake had done his trick he realized that he couldn't feel anything, not even the ambient magic that always existed in the atmosphere. He was literally in a magic dead zone, one that could only have been caused by Blake Walker.

"What the hell are you?"

"Do you read poetry?" Blake asked, seemingly changing the subject.

"Some, yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Speaking poetically, rather than literally, you could call me a god of the copybook headings." Shift had no earthly idea what Blake was talking about but even if he was talking in a non-literal fashion the god comparison made Shift very nervous.

"I think I need a drink." Shift tried to push his way past Blake but the PI grabbed his arm and stopped him cold.

"Stop running away, coward."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me." Shift wanted to lash out at him but he had a keen sense of hierarchy. Both this man and Kinji Kotetsu stood above him on the food chain. In Blake's case Shift had the impression that there weren't many people higher up than him. So he did the only thing that would guarantee survival, he submitted.

"I don't understand."

"Only because you don't want to understand. You're running away from the possibility of pain, both in your relationship with your girlfriend and in this fight. Be a man and deal with it." Blake let him go and walked back into the dining and kitchen area where Wraith was talking with Sean and Jaig.

"How is he?" Wraith asked, having seen Blake go to check on Shift after their conversation.

"Lacking a positive male role-model. But otherwise fine. Have you come up with a plan?"

"Yes. And I think I also solved your pistol problem. Jaig, if you would be so kind." The man to Wraith's side made a space-age pistol appear from seemingly nowhere and handed it, grip first, to Blake.

"For someone without the Force, there isn't a better weapon than a blaster. No limit to ammunition, unlike that primitive K.E.W. you were using before. Think you can handle it?" Blake took the blaster, looked the weapon over briefly, and took aim at Kal who had been suspiciously quiet since the last battle. Before anyone understood what he was doing he fired and a bolt of red light leaped toward the man in medieval armor. Wraith stopped the blast just inches before it would have burned a hole in Kal's unprotected neck. As it turned out, he needn't have bothered. The man pretending to be Kal dropped his holographic disguise and pressed a button on the gauntlet he wore on his right hand. Everyone in the room got to see the man's true form, that of a sickly thin alien with white eyes and hair, before the teleporter activated and he vanished.

Wraith was livid. Not only had Blake allowed a double agent to remain with them and not told anyone, risking them and leaving Kal in the hands of the enemy, but he had taken matters into his own hands and attempted to kill the imposter in cold blood. Jaig and Sean were both on edge, keeping their hands on their weapons. Shift had disappeared, which made Wraith even more concerned that Darkseid was getting perilously close to getting the completed Anti-Life Equation and would likely be killing two of his compatriots.

"Do you have any idea how bad this situation is? We've just lost two allies and Darkseid has gained two pieces of the Anti-life Equation. We are losing and losing badly."

"No, I don't understand. And I only figured out that Kal had been replaced a moment before I tried to shoot him. It was possibly a rash judgement. I'm sorry." Wraith wanted to scold him more but he hadn't had someone apologize to him since this mess had started and it dissipated his anger, leaving behind a weary frustration.

"I have a plan, but I needed Shift to keep Darkseid restrained and I'm no longer sure that it's only Darkseid we're up against." He used his wrist-mounted computer to project an image on the white wall of the basement, a profiled photo of the alien who had been impersonating Kal. "I was afraid of that. This is Ebony Maw. He's a member of the Black Order, the personal guard of the Mad Titan Thanos. If he's here then Thanos is probably here as well. Computer, show Thanos file."

"Thanos, last of the race known as Titans. He is the most prolific mass murderer in the known history of Universe 616. One time owner of the Infinity Stones, he nearly destroyed all life in his native universe but was stopped by the Avengers. His known abilities include-" the list of his abilities was very long. With each new ability named many in the room felt their hopes wane. Blake let out a long-suffering sigh but didn't look too worried. Sean and Jaig, however, were both a bit pale. When that recording was done he played the filed for all of the currently known members of the Black Order ending with the file on Ebony Maw.

"He has no known abilities but he always seems to be able to turn a situation to his advantage through conversation. Personally I always thought he had some psychic-related ability that allowed him to influence the subconscious minds of those he spoke to. Were you talking to him just before the fight broke out?" he asked Sean.

"Just for a few moments." The younger-looking man admitted. "I'm not sure if I feel better or worse that I was manipulated into doing something so childish. Was Shift manipulated too?"

"I doubt it. Adam wouldn't need a reason to be confrontational and childish." Wraith said. They all turned to see Kinji walking into the room, not because they'd heard him, but because he was throwing off heat like a blast furnace. Even those present without enhanced senses could easily see the aura of power surrounding him.

"Well, I'm ready for round 2, if you need a distraction." He said, a predatory smile on his face. Wraith's eyes closed briefly as the plans in his head shifted, accounting for this sudden increase in Kinji's capabilities and for the absence of Adam.

"I think I have an idea."

* * *

Thanos had been waiting patiently for more of the pieces to be assembled. He was quite willing to let Darkseid bear the brunt of the effort while he held the artificial space together. But he was unwilling to let the god do whatever he pleased without his own agents keeping tabs. Of course, only Supergiant and Ebony Maw were suited to such delicate work, the others remained with him to make sure he was secure and to ensure that the first piece they had collected did not do anything… unexpected. The human calling himself Jackson Owens was among the more disturbing of the beings Thanos had ever interacted with, and that was truly saying something. He'd been known to speak to Galactus on a whim, and pull cosmic beings to him through sheer force of will. But this human, if it was indeed a human, seemed to distort reality just by dint of his presence. Not to mention that he was singularly annoying. About five minutes after releasing the human he'd ordered that Jackson's tongue be ripped out to quiet his incessant jabbering. The human had done it himself and had gone so far as to wave the bloody chunk of muscle in front of his face. Too bad the effects had been temporary, the human had returned to normal in an instant.

"You have my permission to leave the building and do as you please." Thanos said.

"Golly gee, what a swell idea." Jackson gushed. "Thanks a bunch Mr. Thanos." Jackson conjured a small wrecking ball and knocked a hole in the building's exterior. Then he jumped, despite being on the 52nd floor of the skyscraper.

"If that thing tries to come back inside, kill it." Thanos ordered.

* * *

Darkseid was standing out in the open, arms behind his back and chin tilted up imperiously. He was practically inviting someone to take a shot at him. Kinji was no less bold in his approach. He was apparently unarmed but as he passed the large apartment buildings they seemed to sag and glow a deep orange. The air around him shimmered with the waves of heat his body was producing but the only fire visible was in his eyes. Excitement and anticipation made his grey eyes flare blue with excess energy. Even the mighty Darkseid was forced to raise an eyebrow at the enormous energy reservoir that Kinji Kotetsu represented.

"No minions or flunkies this time? I feel so important." Kinji said, scorn evident in his tone though his mouth was set in a wide smile.

"Incorrect." Darkseid said. The Furies seemed to appear from thin air, each of them carrying a small device that they had pointed at him. A kind of vibration seemed to start in Kinji's stomach and spread to the rest of his body. The strength that had been literally melting the world around him seemed to vanish leaving Kinji with a miniscule fraction of his power. He staggered and fell to one knee from the sudden weakness. "Any energy in this universe can be countered and neutralized if you can pinpoint its exact frequency." Darkseid monologue. Kinji barely heard him speaking as his strength deserted him and left both his mind and body reeling. "You were very arrogant to display your abilities so openly. Did you think you could oppose me without consequence?"

"Exact frequency." Kinji muttered. "You said you needed to know my exact energy frequency."

"Someone kill him now!" Gilotina screamed. She was shaking with strain from using the object that was helping nullify Kinji's strength. Apparently the devices also put a strain on the ones using them. Even powerful warriors like the Furies could only use them for so long before they started to experience serious side effects.

Kinji's hand crept up to his face, a tiny flicker of fire danced in his palm. He only had enough power available to make one attempt at this transformation but if it worked then those fancy little boxes would be as useful in this fight as a set of dominos.

"Surrender your piece of the equation to me now and I will spare your life." Darkseid said. Kinji gave him a weak smile and flipped him the bird before shoving the little blue flame onto his face. His head seemed to catch fire and for a brief moment everyone present wondered if he had committed suicide. The fire seemed to solidify into something like bone or porcelain. A mask, one depicting a stylized fox face and covered in swirls of blue with a seven pointed blue star set in the center of the forehead, now covered his face.

The hollowfied soul reaper got back to his feet and cast a withering glare at the Furies and Darkseid. The devices were still active and Kinji could feel it suppressing part of his power but the strength granted by his mask was vastly different. Of course, this didn't come without risk, but for a situation like this it was perfect.

"There is a phrase I've heard before that I haven't been able to use. Thank you for providing me the opportunity." Kinji's voice was dual-toned. The first was his normal voice, a deep baritone. The second was higher pitched and raspy. The two voices together created an echo that could only be described as sinister. "You done goofed." He tilted back his head and roared. A basso yell mixed with the lupine howling snarl of a wild animal that reverberated through everything in the surrounding area. Along with the sound came a feeling of oppressive weight and heat, as if someone had boiled the ocean and sunk them into some deep trench beneath the waves. The Furies found it difficult to even breathe in his presence but they were born and bred warriors. They immediately tried to attack, relying on the supposition that he didn't have enough tails to engage all of them simultaneously. This was a fatal deficiency in information. All nine of Kinji's tails rushed toward them like a solid wall of steel spikes. They would have died right then and there if Darkseid hadn't intervened and blasted Kinji with his Omega beams and knocked his tails off target. Unlike their previous bout, Kinji had enough raw power emanating from him that he didn't have to impose either his tails or weapon in order to survive the attack. But it did still manage to cause excruciating pain as his atoms were shaken loose by the disintegrating beams. The blast, rather than knocking him away merely knocked him off balance and the pain it caused him merely strengthened his resolve for the fight.

* * *

"I think that was the starting signal." Sean said dryly when a wave of energy rolled over him. He was willing to bet everyone in the entire pocket dimension felt it. Wraith was farthest away and it still felt like someone had run the flat of a heated shaving razor across his skin. Kinji had promised that they would all know when he began his distraction and that they would have, at most, three minutes to launch a rapid dominance attack on the building where Thanos was. Wraith, Sean, Jaig, and Blake would do so with the aim of obtaining the Space Gem and getting them back to a world where they could call in the cavalry. Blake had promised not to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary, though what he considered a necessity and what Wraith considered a necessity were likely not the same thing.

"He said we have three minutes. Let's get moving." Jaig said sternly. He cut through the exterior of the building with his lightsaber and made a door for the small group.

* * *

"I find myself in an odd position." Kinji mused aloud. "Though you're the one I want to crush I want to punish your subordinates more." Darkseid looked amused.

"So you're that type of leader, one who considered himself above the rabble and becomes enraged when a warrior you consider inferior dares to challenge you."

"It tarnishes my reputation. One can avoid an extraordinary number of battles if others believe challenging you to be suicide. These have gone so far as to render me helpless for a few moments. That cannot go unanswered. But since I can't punish them properly while you're still a threat I'll have to seal you away before I can deal with them. So bear with me." Kinji raised his empty left hand while his tails writhed around him, ready to protect him from attack. " _The oozing crest of corruption, the arrogant vessel of madness._ " As Kinji intoned the spell the blue aura around him turned black and light seemed to be pulling into him, dimming the already dark area. The Furies attacked but were kept at bay by Kinji's tails " _Deny the seething urge to let things stun and flicker, disrupt the sleep. The crawling Princes of Iron, the eternally self-destructing Doll of Mud."_ Darkseid felt the energies Kinji was gathering and he felt the fabric of reality beginning to bend around the silver-haired warrior. He struck out with his Omega Beams but their path was bent away from Kinji and they detonated harmlessly against the ground. " _Unite! Repulse! Fill the Earth and know your own powerlessness._ Way of Destruction 90: Black Coffin!" a latticework of black energy wove itself around Darkseid. The god of evil was quickly hidden from view, encased in a massive box the size and dimension of the skyscrapers around the battlefield. It wasn't black so much as whatever material it was simply swallowed the light nearby. The spell was intended to destroy its target by crushing it with intense gravity, and at Kinji's level of power he'd unleashed enough gravity to warp time and space inside the affected area. Even if Darkseid decided to break out of the enclosure instantly the act of doing it would take him at least a full minute to do so, plenty of time to deal with the Furies.

* * *

Wraith's in-armor computer sent a flashing alert to his visor. "Hold on, I'm getting a strange reading. What on Earth?"

"What is it?" Sean asked, knowing that information was essential to conducting a successful battle.

"I'm getting an alert about an intense gravity well just a few miles away."

"Gravity well? You mean a black hole?" Blake was at the back of their group, covering them with a blaster pistol.

"No, I mean a gravity well. If a black hole had formed we'd know." Wraith saw that the anomaly was very close to where Kinji was and decided to ignore that strange reading. "Keep moving."

* * *

"Lord Darkseid!" Granny Goodness screamed, distressed by the disappearance of her master. Her concern for him was short-lived, quickly replaced by concern for herself. Kinji's tails were nowhere to be seen but nine weapons hovered in the air around Granny and the Furies, halos of blue fire making them unapproachable without suffering serious burns. The finest warriors of Apokalips were trapped inside a cage of flame and at the mercy of a warrior without pity.

"I regret that I can neither bind your spirits nor remove you from the cycle of reincarnation. In the Seireitei your crimes would be such that you would be executed by the Soukyouku and your spirits would be scattered to the wind like so much ash. But I will ensure that we never meet again by burning your minds clean of all memory." Kinji raised one hand that was wreathed in silver flame and the weapons imprisoning the Furies pulsed and arranged themselves in a specific shape. The chain wove itself through and between seven of the nine weapons forming a heptagram. " _O flame of purgation, silver fire of purification, come to my aid. The blossoms have fallen and withered on the ground, the blighted trees have broken in the wind. Let the dead be gathered and a pyre built._ " The Furies tried to strike at the weapons caging them but it resulted in severe burns before they even managed to touch the weapons.

"Mercy! Please!" Granny cried from the center of the circle. Kinji heard her plea but didn't bother to give an answer other than continuing his incantation.

" _Let the widow lay beside her husband as the fire grows, let the children scatter the ashes over the fields and bring life from death. And we who mourn pray that all paths diverge, such that we never meet again. Such that you never again become our sacrifice._ Hidden Way of Destruction: Celestial Funeral of Rebirth." The silver fire flared in his hand and everything inside the heptagram was consumed. Not even the smell of burning clothes escaped the circle of weapons. When the fire died there was nothing left in the space but scorched earth.

Such an extreme exertion of power caused the lower half of his mask to crumble away. With his hollowfication becoming unstable he could feel the strain on his false body. The gigai he was inhabiting was not designed for this kind of intense performance and the artificial tissues were beginning to break down. If the body died he would be stuck in spirit form and, at the very least, be unable to communicate with anyone. It was entirely possible that he would be unable to affect anything in this dimension if he was forced to leave his gigai. He was about to remove his mask when the massive box he'd stuck Darkseid in shattered like so much glass. He checked his mental clock and realized he'd already been fighting for two and a half minutes. He was dangerously close to the point of no return when his gigai would be beyond repair.

"Perfect timing. I just finished punishing your elite warriors. You'll never get them back after what I did to them."

"Most unfortunate. It seems I will have to find new recruits. Given your extraordinary displays of power perhaps I should find your home dimension. Perhaps your children will make good soldiers once I've properly broken them in." All of Kinji's lightheartedness evaporated in an instant. He'd been treating this battle like an enjoyable diversion from his life at home and he'd been largely unconcerned about the end results. He had remained confident that he could escape the prison given enough time to think about it. But now Darkseid, an immortal creature who could warp dimensions, had threatened his family. That was unacceptable.

"You shouldn't have said that. If you go so far as to threaten my family I have no choice but to use everything." The pressure of Kinji's presence vanished entirely, as did his mask. In place of it was a seven pointed star inscribed on his brow in a kind of silvery metal. Lines of the same silvery substance stood out on the exposed parts of his arms, chest, and neck. The weapons Kinji had used in his spell caught fire and shot toward him, coming to rest behind him as orbs of white fire. Darkseid didn't like that an already powerful enemy had undergone such a drastic change in appearance so he pressed a button on his motherbox and opened a boomtube that would bring another legion of parademons into the pocket dimension. A few managed to get through before Kinji snapped his fingers and the portal, as well as the motherbox, fell apart. The lizard-like creatures immediately attacked Kinji but the soul reaper paid them no attention whatsoever. They slashed at him with pikes and tried to mob him. The moment anything got within a foot of him it seemed to simply vanish. Blood sprayed from suddenly missing limbs and pieces of parademon dropped to the ground. "Nothing but dust and shadows." Kinji's voice echoed inside Darkseid's head.

"Incredible. Tell me, where do you rank among your people?" Kinji didn't answer. He raised his hand high into the air and the entire city began to quake.

"You cannot trap me in dust and shadows."

* * *

Thanos felt a pulse of pain in his gauntleted hand. There was a baleful gray light pouring through the Space Gem and fighting him for control of the separated space. For a being as powerful as Thanos the creation and maintenance of a pocket dimension was child's play when he had the Space Gem. His powerful will was second to no mortal creature in the universe. So the mental onslaught of another will, one that rivaled his own, managed to surprise him.

"Lord Thanos, may I be of assistance?" Supergiant, a powerful telepath and psychic parasite asked.

"A pest seems to be interfering. Take care of it." Thanos ordered. Truth be told, he was hanging onto the construct by the skin of his mental teeth. Trying to hold back the will of this interloper was like trying to prevent a boulder from rolling down a mountain. If he gave an inch against that insistent and steady pressure he wouldn't be able to halt its advance. Supergiant, a female humanoid with blue skin and yellow eyes, placed a hand over the gem to make a psychic connection. She found it difficult to touch the mind on the other end but she connected.

"A strong mind with powerful emotions, and so much memory. You will make a fine meal." She communicated as a taunt. She felt an almost overwhelming sense of outrage at her words when the mind communicated back.

"Leave or suffer." Supergiant drew in the psychic energy of his reply and turned it back against him. Kinji, in his transcendent state, understood exactly what the telepath was doing and responded in an effective if incredibly cruel manner. He showed her a memory, the very worst memory he had to offer. Supergiant felt him clumsily shove a memory in her direction and believed the amateur was trying to stall her. She reached for the memory greedily, hungrily. The memory was of a wooden building rotting away unnaturally fast, and a young human maiden wearing white robes with a strip of white cloth covering her eyes. Then the cloth fell away and revealed two black pits, so deep it was like looking into deep space and so cold that Supergiant couldn't believe the creature was part of any ordinary universe. The darkness was ripping away bits of her mind and Supergiant began to scream in terror and pain. She broke the telepathic connection but it was too late, the memory was inside her now and eating away at what little sanity she had to begin with.

Thanos watched his subordinate's suffering with an almost academic interest. The opposing mind had done something to her, something that was ripping an experienced and powerful mind to pieces. Thanos reached out with his own mind and discovered victory, not defeat. Though it was cloaked in a memory, this was undoubtedly once of the the pieces of the Anti-Life Equation that Darkseid had been searching for. The fool had handed it over without even realizing. And they had no more use for something so dangerous once the piece of the Equation was extracted. Thanos used the Space Gem's power to forcibly eject the interloping mind from the pocket dimension he'd created. The interloper put of a brief fight but was expelled and tossed into the darkness between dimensions.

* * *

Kinji, after he dealt with the psychic parasite that had been trying to feed on him, felt the skin of the pocket dimension split open behind him, and he felt the will maintaining the space try to force him out. He could have resisted but he decided to try a different approach. He shaped some of his power into a solid spike and launched it at Darkseid. The god of evil knocked it aside with his forearm but gouged a deep cut into his durable flesh and loosed a fine spray of blood to fall to the ground. The spike drove itself deep into the ground and vanished from view. Then Kinji stopped resisting and was pulled back into the garganta, the dark space between dimensions. And not a moment too soon. His gigai dissolved almost instantly, thoroughly burned out with the power he had channeled through it. His power was nearly exhausted but he was still strong enough to make his way back to the Soul Society. He was going to bring in the cavalry, as soon as he managed to limp his way back home, that is.

* * *

Wraith and the others found Kal sitting in a cell, trying to use his armor to pick an electronic lock. It wasn't going well. Wraith used his computer to hack the lock and once Kal had been brought up to speed he volunteered to help them fight Thanos.

"I think I should have been more concerned about Kinji. The readings my computer is sending me are… disconcerting." Wraith said.

"You mean Darkseid is killing him?" Blake asked. Then the building began to shake violently.

"No, I think Kinji is more than holding his own. He's destabilizing this pocket dimension!"

"I'm not big on physics, but wouldn't that kill us?" Blake asked, nervousness in his voice for the first time since Wraith had met him. And he was right to be nervous. Being inside a collapsing pocket dimension would, at best, place them in the inhospitable nothingness between dimensions. But what would likely happen is that their physical bodies would simply cease to exist and they would all be killed instantly. But after only a dozen seconds the shaking stopped and Kinji's energy signature vanished.

"Moot point. Kinji's gone." Wraith reported.

"Gone as in dead or gone as in he left?"

"No idea. Either way our time is up and Darkseid is free to come find us. So we need to make this as quick as possible. Primary objective is getting the Space Gem, everything else is secondary." Wraith looked at his comrades, they all nodded back. Then he used a burst of telekinetic energy to blow in the doors to the room where Thanos most likely resided.

* * *

Thanos had only a few moments to revel in his sudden and unexpected victory when his door was blown in. He had four retainers still capable of protecting him: Corvus Glave, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, and Ebony Maw. The last of the four was not a fighter but he would play the role of sowing confusion and mistrust among the few remaining piece holders and make it nearly impossible for them to fight effectively as a group.

Thanos recognized one of them, Mordecai Wraith, as a genuine threat to the plan. The man was resourceful and cunning to the point that Thanos suspected he wasn't truly human. But much of that threat was diminished while he was cut off from any outside help. The others were unknown to him, though their technology looked…moderately complex. Rather than simply shield himself decided to make things more interesting. The members of the Black Order had grown bored while they allowed Darkseid and his minions to hunt the pieces of the Equation. They could use a diversion so Thanos raised his gauntlet and transported all of the attackers to smaller pocket dimensions, pairing each of them with one of the Black Guard. Ebony Maw was useless as a fighter so Thanos paired Black Dwarf with two of the intruders. Wraith suddenly found himself facing the Mad Titan alone.

* * *

Blake Walker stood in a park standing opposite a creature made of sharp edges and angles. Corvus Glaive carried his namesake weapon at the ready. He was a fierce creature, a general with many wars behind him. He had been struck down a thousand times but he still lived. And when he returned from death he came with cruelty and vengeance, destroying all who had thought themselves victorious. And now he stood before a human who had nothing more at his disposal than knives and a pistol.

"How disappointing. My lord Thanos has send me on a rat hunt rather than setting me opposite a true warrior."

"I should be insulted, but in the spirit of humility I have to say that you're not wrong. I'm no warrior. My name is Blake Walker."

"At least the rat knows something about manners. I am Corvus Glaive, general of the Mad Titan. I will strip from you the piece of the Anti-Life Equation that you hold and then I will kill you." Corvus noted the utter lack of reaction on Blake's face. "Are you scared senseless? Your death stands before you and you look bored."

"Not bored, tired. Tired in a way something like you can't possibly understand. So I will ask you not to do this. Please set aside your weapon and go your way."

"Sniveling coward. I will do the will of my master." Corvus held out a container surrounded by some kind of receiver and pointed it at Blake. "This will take the only thing of value you possess and then I will take your head back to Thanos." There was a pause as the old warrior waited for the device to activate and draw out the fragment. Nothing happened. "What trickery is this?"

"Well, I guess the jig is up."

"Stop speaking in riddles. What have you done?"

"The truth is right in front of you and you still can't see it. Your device is operational but it refuses to activate in my presence. There's only one conclusion to be drawn from this."

"You no longer possess the fragment?"

"I never had one. Your master didn't draw me here, I was brought here because you and your false god created an imbalance. I will set the scales right."

"What foolishness and arrogance. You have no value to my master alive so I will kill you." Glaive charged with inhuman speed and slashed at Blake's neck. The weapon passed through empty air and the warrior saw Blake roll away from him, a knife and pistol in his hands. Blake shot at Glaive with the blaster he'd been given and put several smoking holes in his enemy. Or, that was what he intended. The minion of Thanos was far faster than he was and interposed his indestructible weapon between his body and the blasts. They exchanged blows for almost two minutes before the alien abandoned trying to understand how a mere human was fighting evenly with him. "How can you move so quickly? Was the data Ebony Maw provided incorrect? Are you not human?"

"I am human. But I was given a duty and the authority to carry it out."

"More riddles." Glaive took a stance to attack but, in an instant, Blake was no longer in front of him. The man had gotten behind him somehow and was already pulling the trigger on his energy weapon. The laser put a golfball sized hole in Corvus Glaive's head. Blake crossed himself and began to offer a prayer for the alien's soul. Then Glaive got back up in the middle of his prayer and swung at Blake with his long weapon. Blake wasn't quite fast enough to escape harm and the blade drew a line of blood on his chest.

"You know, most things don't survive a hole in the skull. How are you not dead?" Blake said, a little peeved.

"As long as I have my weapon I cannot be killed. Even if you take it lightyears away and burn me to ash I will return. Knowing that, do you wish me to kill you quickly? Kneel and I shall claim your head."

"Another wannabe immortal. I swear, there's nothing quite as annoying as a being who believes in their heart that they cannot die." Blake tossed the blaster a good distance away into the thicker brush.

"You are wise to surrender."

"We all have to die sometime." Blake intoned. Glaive paused at the change in his voice. Anger? No, contempt. It was an abrupt change for someone who had been fighting a deathmatch with a bored expression. Glaive readied his weapon for a killing blow but he paused when a brown leaf drifted down in front of him. The forest was that of a lush summer, there should be no leaves falling. Then more began to drift down around them. He heard wood creaking as trees withered in moments. The grass under his feet went from green to brown to gray in mere seconds. Everything around him was dead or dying. Except for Blake. Blake seemed thinner and his skin paler but his eyes were hard and he showed no sign of collapsing.

"What are you doing, mortal?"

"Trying to wake you up. Mortal." Blake said, adding the last bit as an insult. The air grew cold, nearly as cold as the emptiness of deep space. Then Blake vanished, just as he had when he shot Corvus in the head. The weapon Corvus had taken his name from was suddenly broken in two. He stared at it, dumbfounded that his invincible weapon had been destroyed. It simply shouldn't have been possible. The broken end he held was covered in corrosion and frost. Then he looked to Blake, his mind desperate for some explanation of how this had happened. Blake looked very different than he had mere moments ago. His tan skin had gone bone white and his eyes were pools of deep darkness. In his hand was a scythe. Corvus Glaive had roamed the universe, he believed he had seen everything there was to see. He had never seen anything like that weapon, never felt such paralyzing terror. And, without his weapon revitalizing his cells he was beginning to feel cold and sick. He looked into Blake's eyes and saw the inevitable end of the universe and everything in it. Cold. Darkness. His legs gave out. "Are you awake now?" The question came as a wheezing rattle, like the last exhalation of a man dying of tuberculosis. Glaive clung to his pride and his last shred of loyalty and spat at Blake. The spittle froze solid and dropped to the ground well before touching its intended target. "So be it." Blake swung his scythe and Corvus Glaive was no more. Blake hurriedly closed the door to his power and dropped to the cold ground on his hands and knees. His black hair was now laced with gray and he looked like he'd just lost 15 pounds.

"Won't be coming back this time."

* * *

Black Dwarf was an ironic name for such a huge brute. He carried a massive two-headed axe in hands so large that they made it look like a hatchet. The thick bones of his face would lead one to the correct conclusion that he had a strong back but not a strong brain. Facing off against him was the first Mandalorian Jedi the massive creature had ever seen. Jaig wore mandalorian armor and carried two lightsabers with a blaster rifle strapped to his back. He also had an impressive number of grenades and other ordinance stored in his suit of armor. Jaig looked around what he assumed was a battlefield chosen by Thanos. It was a parking structure, at least 200 feet high and completely empty.

"I don't suppose we can settle this with a nice polite game of Dejarik?" Jaig asked, not liking the look of his opponent. Jaig had taken down several Rancors in his day but just looking at this thuggish warrior made his back ache where it had once been broken.

"No." he held up a device and Jaig felt a tug on his mind. Then there was pain, like a broken piece of metal being drawn of a healed wound. The container attached to the device shone with a sullen red light and something that writhed and squirmed was the source of it. Jaig felt suddenly sick.

"That was in me? I feel like I should thank you for removing it. But, that being said, I can't let you keep it." Jaig reached out to the Force and ripped the container from Black Dwarf's hand and threw it far to the side, where it wouldn't likely be destroyed.

"What you want doesn't matter. Nothing truly matters. But I will crush you and take the fragment back to lord Thanos." The brute slammed his axe into the ground hard enough to throw pieces of concrete like shrapnel. Jaig didn't bother to dodge any of it. The flakes and splinters of stone bounced harmlessly off his armor. Jaig took his two lightsaber tonfas in hand and ignited them. They hummed with contained power and the two blades of light lent additional illumination to the dim space.

"A nihilist. Why did he have to be a nihilist?" Jaig muttered. Black Dwarf charged Jaig but didn't do what the Jedi had initially expected. Rather than make use of the massive axe the bruiser simply bowled into Jaig with his shoulder. The experienced soldier immediately tried to cut Dwarf in half with his weapons but the lightsabers wouldn't penetrate his enemy's skin. This wasn't unprecedented but it was extremely unusual and it caused Jaig a moment of hesitation. The Dwarf bulldozed him through two supporting concrete columns. Jaig used his telekinesis to toss the massive, and massively heavy, Black Dwarf back into the new pile of shattered concrete.

Jaig put the ineffective weapons back on his belt and pulled the WESTAR M-5 blaster rifle he'd restored to working order. He switched it to full automatic and squeezed the trigger. A stream of blue laser blasts hit the downed brute and blackened his skin on contact. But again this seemed to do little but annoy Black Dwarf. Jaig tried aiming for his eyes but one tree trunk sized arm shielded the potential vulnerability too well. Jaig jumped back, putting himself on the edge of the building. "Last chance to resolve this peacefully." Jaig offered.

"What cause do I have to prefer peace to war?" The mass murdered inquired dispassionately.

"Nevermind. IF truths like that aren't self-evident there's no way I can justify them to you." Jaig took a short jump backwards and over the edge of the building, falling more than 10 stories to the ground. The moment he touched down he used his weapon to blast all of the ground level support beams. With a crack like the snapping of ancient trees the entire concrete structure came straight down and threw up a cloud of dust as it did. Jaig scanned the rubble for his enemy, certain the tough creature hadn't died in the collapse. Sure enough, one gnarled fist erupted from the broken concrete clutching that oversized axe. "This could take a while."

* * *

Proxima Midnight wielded her spear to devastating effect against Sean and Kal. It only appeared to be a spear but was in reality a weapon made of energy. Sean's armor and swrd were made of adamantium and couldn't be broken even by Proxima's weapon. His body was another story. Every strike damaged him beneath his armor. His ability to regenerate kept him alive but took him out of the fight for several seconds each time. Kal had avoided taking damage so far but only because Sean had been purposely setting himself up as the target for her attacks. Kal molded various weapons, some conventional and others anything but. He'd inflicted a number of small harms but hadn't landed a decisive blow. For all his armor's versatility he was still very much a human while Proxima was something much stronger and faster.

"Please tell me you're ready." Sean gasped to Kal.

"Ready!"

"What are you two fools talking about?" Proxima demanded.

"The trap, of course." Kal said smugly. Proxima saw a thin trail of metal hanging from Kal's wrist and she followed the trail back to her leg. Her instinct was to try cutting the chain but she found her spear arm was restrained by more of the metal. A spiderweb of metal strands wrapped around her, binding her arms and legs. "Works every time."

* * *

Darkseid looked at the gash torn in his arm with astonishment. It had actually hurt! These avatars of his true self didn't experience actual pain because the real and essential Darkseid was only directing them like marionettes. The attack that Kinji had launched as he was expelled from the pocket dimension had wounded the true Darkseid that resided in the Fourth World. This meant that Kinji had been a being that could transcend dimensional boundaries and had been capable of actually killing the god of evil instead of just eliminating a single projection. How many of Kinji's people were capable of that? How strong was Kinji relative to his people? These were questions that Darkseid would need to answer. But, for now, he would lay claim to the Anti-Life Equation and make a universe in his own image. Then, from that stronghold, he would invade all of creation and subjugate it.

"Well, that was quite a show. Did the little godling hurt you, o mighty god of evil?" Jackson stood just outside the devastated area, smiling evilly.

"What are you doing here, cretin. I ordered you to stay behind."

"Really? I don't remember. Oh well, who's to say we've even met before?" Jackson created several human-sized metal spikes and held them in the air, ready to fly at a moment's notice. "And I'm in the mood for a little fun. Think you can handle a game or two?"

"Wretched creature, my Omega Beams will turn you to dust." Darkseid was about to blast the impudent human when he felt a tug in his chest. Something had just compressed his heart for a moment. Someone else was trying to strike him, but from a safe distance. A sorcerer, then. But Darkseid was suddenly far more concerned with the implements of impalement that were now hurtling at him.

From a dark room in a half ruined building Shift sat and observed the new fight. He'd managed to abscond with some of Darkseid's blood while the so called god was distracted. His first spell, a simple but undeniably powerful bit of thaumaturgy that should have destroyed Darkseid's heart. He dropped the little figurine, now broken by the magical feedback. Apparently killing a god was more difficult than killing a human. That just left the curse he'd told Wraith he could perform. With Darkseid's blood and a bit of privacy he could do it, but the cost would be… substantial.

"I hope this isn't crossing the line into Necromancy. But desperate times call for desperate measures." He used the blood to paint a symbol on the ruined floor and began speaking words in Latin. It was unfamiliar to him, most of his spells were in languages far older and more primitive. But Latin was the language of the old alchemists and the scholars of the medieval world, and it was the language in which their sorcerers recorded their secrets. And those sorcerers, more than any others in human history, were familiar with the dead.

Darkseid knocked away the many and various weapons Jackson used against him, either with his fists or his Omega Beams. Then he felt another tug, not on his body but on his mind. A whisper in his head. "You killed me." First one whispering voice then another, then a thousand more. In moments there was a chorus of screaming voices in his mind, thousands upon thousands of voices with more being added at an exponential pace. A billion voices screamed their resentment at their murderer. Three hundred yards away in his perch Shift kept repeating the words of the spell, harnessing the lingering grudges and anger left by the murdered and giving it strength through his magic and his life. It didn't require reaching out to the dead themselves but it was a fine line. Shift himself was channeling that lingering anger and it touched him more lightly than it did Darkseid but it still scraped at his mind like sandpaper.

"Please God, let this work." He begged as tears ran down his face. He hadn't expected to find so many and the power requirement was greater than he'd anticipated. He needed the curse to stabilize, to become a lasting thing, by letting it power itself using Darkseid's life energy. But it couldn't. There was something else there, something that was drowning out Darkseid's unique presence. Shift reached out with his senses and found his answer. There was something else there, something so much worse than Darkseid that merely sensing it made him feel like he was going to retch. He tied off his connection to the curse. It placed the curse in a dormant state, ending the effect on Darkseid but also ending the drain on his power. He had to drive away the evil keeping his curse from being complete. It's presence was a miasma that shrouded everything and threatened to choke out life itself.

"Well, the little magician decided to join the game. Hey buddy! Need a hug?" Shift didn't even need to look at Jackson to know that the young man was the evil thing he'd sensed. Darkseid looked at him and grinned. Shift knew he hadn't made a mistake, but facing two great evils head on still made him feel foolish.

"Drink the poison yourself, beast." Shift retorted and slipped on the power amplifying gauntlets Wraith had given him.

* * *

Wraith gathered the full force of his telekinesis into a point no bigger than a dime and lashed out at Thanos with an almost surgical precision. The impact could have driven a nail through one side of a mountain and out the other. It blasted Thanos' armor off his chest and shredded the metal but left him with little more than a bruise.

"Moderately impressive. But if telekinesis is all you have to offer, you won't survive a fight with me." The Mad Titan warned.

"I wouldn't be alive right now if it was." Wraith pulled a miniaturized weapon from his belt and returned it to its' natural size. The Mjolnir duplicate seemed familiar in his hand and Thanos had to admit grudging respect for that weapon. Thor's hammer had caused him a great deal of trouble in the past and even an imitation was a threat not to be ignored. Wraith threw the hammer and Thanos dodged to one side, letting the weapon blow a hole in the building's exterior wall big enough for the Hulk to walk through. Thanos punched Wraith in the chest. Wraith used his telekinesis to take much of the force from the blow but the Titan still hit him hard enough that he was tossed into the opposite wall, one arm and shoulder going through to the next room over in a shower of wood splinters and plaster.

The next punch would have taken Wraith's head from his shoulders if the mechanical Mjolnir hadn't flown back in and struck Thanos in the back of the head, knocking his punch off course and sending him plowing fully through the wall next to Wraith. The old man caught the hammer and brought it crashing down on the gauntlet on Thanos' right hand. For all the weapon's force it was nowhere near enough to break an Infinity Gem or to even break the gauntlet. He brought the hammer down a second time with no greater effect. Thanos countered with a kick that nearly tossed Wraith out of the hole he'd opened in the outside of the building. Wraith cushioned himself and cocked his arm back for another throw. Thanos hurled a piece of a broken steel beam at Wraith and he was forced to use the hammer to knock away the piece of debris. Thanos tackled Wraith through the opening, sending both of them tumbling out into the open air. Wraith used his telekinesis again to cushion his fall but also to separate himself from Thanos so his much larger and stronger opponent couldn't grapple him to submission.

"Run if you like. Thanos will hunt you down, no matter what dark corner you hide in!" Thanos came at him, flying through the air with great speed. Wraith turned and flew away as fast as he was able, Thanos staying just short of catching him. Wraith used his hammer to break through buildings, leaving the collapsing remnants to fall on Thanos. But for all his efforts the game remained one of cat against mouse. Thanos was barely hurt and Wraith still ached all over from the single solid hit he'd taken. After several minutes of running Wraith's instincts told him to throw his hammer to his right. Thanos was still behind him but Wraith knew enough to trust his instincts and he threw.

* * *

Shift had fully transformed into something grotesquely between man and beast and was trying to gnaw his way through Darkseid's arm, protected from the Omega energy by a dense shroud of his own power. Jackson had driven a spear though his gut and nailed Darkseid's feet to the ground. He laughed and watched the sorcerer and god tear into each other. Then, out of nowhere, something slammed into Jackson and he vanished as the object smashed him halfway across the city. Shift and Darkseid both paused for a moment when the conjured objects and their corresponding injuries vanished. They looked at each other as if to ask if they were responsible for Jackson's sudden exit. Then they went back to attacking each other.

* * *

Thanos caught Wraith by one leg and threw him hard into the ground. Wraith hit and his concentration shattered. Thanos immediately pinned his legs beneath one massive foot, keeping Wraith from running again. "Now, mouse. Any last words before I rip away your fragment and kill you?"

"Just that I'm glad I liked magic tricks as a boy." Wraith held a seemingly empty hand up and flicked his wrist. Thanos watched the movement on reflex. Wraith's other hand shot up and the Titan saw the Space Gem.

"You little-!" Thanos began before Wraith used the Gem to transport himself a few feet away, out from under Thanos' heel.

"And for my next trick." Wraith opened a portal and all of the scattered heroes were standing before him with members of the Black Order on the ground in front of them, defeated. Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf were unconscious on the ground while nothing but Corvus Glaive's broken weapon remained. Sean, Jaig, and Kall looked a bit worse for wear, Blake looked as if he'd aged 10 years since they'd last seen him. A very hard ten years. Shift stood panting with torn and bloodied clothes but he had a foot on the back of a non-responsive Darkseid. With Jackson far enough away the curse had been able to properly latch onto the god and send him into catatonia. "You're suddenly outnumbered. And I've already sent a distress signal to my allies in other universes. It's over, Thanos."

"Over? It is never going to be over, mortal. But you've won this battle." Thanos used the energy of the Space Gem that he retained to transport himself and what was left of his Order back to his home universe. Wraith tried to stop him from doing it but he wasn't quite fast enough to close the pocket dimension off after just opening it to send out his distress signal. Darkseid was still there, not a bad turnaround for an ambush.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Not even close. But I still have work to do." Blake said. He looked to the west, where a figure approached them. Jackson Owens, a deranged smile on his face and many weapons floating in the air around him.

"Hi everybody!"

"Hi Doctor Nick!" Kal replied with equal, if somewhat less deranged enthusiasm.

"A meeting of the broken minds, wonderful." Wraith muttered.

"Jackson? Jackson Owens?" Sean asked.

"I don't know who that is." The young man said, obviously lying.

"Yes you do. You told me their names, remember? And you warned me of something terrible on the way, something that would sweep the stars from the sky and make life wither." Sean went on. A look of profound pain crossed Jackson's face, quickly replaced by exhaustion.

"Then why haven't you killed us?" Jackson asked, his voice very human and very tired.

"Because he can't." Blake butted in. He revealed his weapon and the air around him grew dark and cold. "Come to me brother, time for you to sleep."

"They're already here. They pluck the strings of Fate herself. Kill us. Kill all of us." Jackson said, slumping to the ground with the effort of being momentarily sane. Blake approached and knelt beside him. "They've touched your life too, old man. You passed them like ships in the night, but they know you. They know your name." Jackson's ravings were becoming less coherent but his eyes fixed themselves on Wraith even as certain death approached. "They made Time their plaything. Remember." Then Blake's hand came to rest on Jackson's head, almost kindly. Jackson instantly turned to dust and the feeling of something rotten departed from that place. Wraith had used his computer to record what Jackson had said and he filed it away under things to work on later.

"Alright. I think we've run out of enemies-." Wraith had to stop speaking because the Space Gem told him that something big had just breached the pocket dimension. "Oh, what now?" a slash opened in the sky, splitting wide to reveal a dark void and a large number of figures dressed in white.

"Darkseid, I'm back! And I'll be leaving with your head this time!" Kinji shouted, his voice supernaturally amplified and booming throughout the pocket dimension.

"Would you shut up! Some of us are tired!" Shift shouted back. Kinji vanished from the void and reappeared next to everyone. He had a new Gigai and was dressed quite differently, wearing a long white coat over black clothes. "I already took care of Darkseid. And Thanos already left. So shove off." Shift said irritably.

"Really?"

"He did. And the rest of us chased away Thanos and his minions." Sean recounted.

"It is good to know that you didn't abandon us and that you would have arrived in time to save some lives, but you're a bit late." Wraith said diplomatically. "But, in case something like this comes up again, would you be so kind as to leave the dimensional coordinates to your home universe?" Kinji sighed and said his goodbyes to everyone then took his militia back through the portal with him, several of them teasing him as they went. The others all left for their home dimensions save for Sean and Wraith.

"Jackson Owens sent me a vision. There are five others like him: Weaver, Siren, Taker, Brute, and Silence, and they're trying to let something into my home universe. But from there I think it intends to spread and kill everything. Did you understand what he said to you?" Sean asked.

"I need to check my files. Godspeed Sean." Wraith sent the other man on his way and returned to his office in his own universe. Before he did anything else he went to the basement and extracted a physical copy of a very old personnel file. "Maybe now I'll finally understand why things went so badly." The name on the file read Warp.


End file.
